A disturbing image when applied to (most of?) the enemy civilians [i.e., any real noncombatants]?

A very satisfying image when applied to the enemy fighters and major civilian supporters.

But the British do seem to have a way with words … given just how rich the English truly is.

The forces who completely wrecked these people will be back at it with the kindergarten lessons featuring killing Jews. Give it two years, tops, and UN educational facilities rebuilt

If this has already been posted by others, my apologies.
Better twice than not at all.
Bibi is channeling his inner Churchill.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/10/17/netanyahu-to-hamas-free-the-hostages-and-we-will-let-you-live/

Netanyahu published a video address in English, hours after Israel confirmed that its soldiers had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza in a firefight on Wednesday. He addressed his nation in Hebrew a few hours before.

The full transcript of Netanyahu’s remarks was published by Israel’s Government Press Office:

One year ago, Yahya Sinwar, the terrorist chief of Hamas, launched the October 7th massacre against Israel.
…
Today, the mastermind of this day of sheer evil is no more.

Yahya Sinwar is dead.

He was killed in Rafah by the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.

While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.

To the people of Gaza, I have a simple message: This war can end tomorrow. It can end if Hamas lays down its arms and returns our hostages.

Hamas is holding 101 hostages in Gaza, who are citizens of 23 countries; citizens of Israel, but citizens of many other countries.

Israel is committed to doing everything in our power to bring all of them home.

And Israel will guarantee the safety of all those who return our hostages.

But to those who would harm our hostages, I have another message: Israel will hunt you down and bring you to justice.

I also have a message of hope to the peoples of the region: The axis of terror that was built by Iran is collapsing before our eyes.

Nasrallah is gone. His deputy Mohsen is gone. Haniyeh is gone. Deif is gone. Sinwar is gone.

The reign of terror that the Iranian regime has imposed on its own people and on the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen – this too will come to an end.

All those who seek a future of prosperity and peace in the Middle East should unite to build a better future.

Together, we can push back the forces of darkness and create a future of light and hope for all of us.

Netanyahu’s message that the war could end if Hamas released the hostages and laid down its arms has been a consistent one for months. But the explicit offer to those holding Israeli hostages — now without the direction of Sinwar’s leadership — was new.

Carrot and stick.
Aesop approves this message.

Unaware they had taken out Israel’s prime target, the soldiers did not return to the site until Thursday morning, when soldiers from the 450th Infantry Battalion were sent in to get a closer look.

This is evidence that Hamas is no longer operating at the top of its game. Hamas at the top of its game would have soon or immediately realized that Sinwar was dead, and would have taken away Sinwar’s body ASAP, before the Israelis could come back for it. Then Hamas could have pretended that Sinwar was in hiding, and no one would have been the wiser.

It would have much better for Hamas propaganda– and Hamas is VERY skilled at propaganda–to have been able to say that Sinwar was still in hiding, or that his location was unknown. Instead, Israel’s possession of his body gave Israel a great propaganda coup—proof that Sinwar was deader than the proverbial doornail. Truth is the best propaganda.

As Hamas is degraded, there is no point for Israel to consent to any lopsided deals. Like Bibi said, unconditionally release the hostages, and there is peace. No need to negotiate with a much weaker horse.

That’s the way it goes with strong horses, and not-so-strong horses. Not-so-strong horses are forgotten.

Which tells me that Israel should not consent to a ceasefire until the hostages are delivered—just as Netanyahu has already said. No trading of hostages for scads of Hamasniks held in Israeli prisons. Never again should Israel consent to exchanges like the trade of 1000 prisoners, which included Sinwar, for one Israeli–Shalit.

I always wonder how the “top” news media outlets manage to get so much detailed information organized into a story so quickly after a major event.
Do they have on-going leaks that they sit on until a block-buster scoop is possible?
Do their stringers have that many close contacts on the “inside” who are willing to provide details immediately?
Some of both? Other methods?
Inquiring minds would really like to know.

NYT: Sinwar’s Final Moments: On the Run, Hurt, Alone, but Still Defiant. Excerpts:

New details about Mr. Sinwar’s movements over the past year have emerged since his death, including the fact that Israeli intelligence officers had seen mounting evidence since August that Mr. Sinwar, or possibly other top Hamas leaders, might be in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood.
They observed people there moving about with their faces covered, sometimes apparently surrounded by guards, suggesting that they were senior Hamas officials or hostages. And in September, they found Mr. Sinwar’s DNA in urine collected from a tunnel…

There had been near misses along the way. On Jan. 31, Israeli commandos raided an elaborate warren of tunnels in Khan Yunis— dubbed “The Kingdom” by Israeli officials — based on the intelligence that Mr. Sinwar was hiding there. It turned out he had been but had left the bunker just days earlier.
In addition to stacks of Israeli shekels, Mr. Sinwar left documents there that detailed years of secret meetings among Hamas leaders planning the Oct. 7 attacks, which the documents refer to as “The Big Project.”…

Early this year, Israeli intelligence concluded that Mr. Sinwar had fled a bunker in the center of the city of Khan Yunis in response to news reports citing Israeli officials saying he was hiding in a tunnel beneath the city. From there, he retreated to the western part of the city before finally relocating to Rafah.

For much of the summer, Mr. Sinwar’s trail was cold. Officials said he had abandoned electronic communications, allowing him to avoid the surveillance net set up by Israeli and American intelligence agencies. He was thought to be moving between the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis, staying in touch with Hamas operatives using a network of human couriers, but there was precious little specific intelligence about his movements.
Then, in August, came mounting evidence pointing to Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood.

On Aug. 31, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six slain hostages, five of whom Hamas had captured at a music festival on Oct. 7, in an underground tunnel complex in Tel al-Sultan. Israeli military officials said they believed that the hostages had been executed by their captors just days earlier.

Weeks later, while investigating the same tunnel complex, Israeli forces confirmed through a DNA test of a urine sample that Mr. Sinwar — whose genetic and other information they had from his decades in Israeli prisons — had been hiding there at some point. But they never pinpointed his whereabouts, and there was discussion among Israeli intelligence officials that the Hamas leader might actually be dead.

Next!