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An attack on Israel coming?

Two stories this morning suggest that an attack soon on Israel from either Iran- or ISIS-backed forces, or both, may soon take place.

The first would be a large attack from the north, near the Golan Heights, planned with the hope of grabbing and holding territory from Israel. The second would be a small terrorist attack. meant only to distract and cause harm. Supposedly Iran and the Islamic State oppose each other, but here they would be working together. Good thing the Obama administration sent Iran $33 billion in cash to help them in this effort.

To get a feel for the hate held by Islamic leaders of all stripes for Jews, watch this excerpt from a Friday sermon by a Hamas MP. Their goal is simple: Kill all the Jews. I wonder how Israel is going to negotiate a two state solution faced with that.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

8 comments

  • Cotour

    If its going to happen the next coming weeks would give them their best chance of success and help from the White House (not like they have not been receiving help over the last 7.9 years), you all know what I mean.

  • Tom Billings

    In this attack, the target, as always, is the opinion of the world. That will mean that while Iran and ISIS will cooperate, they will also compete, for most impact. The only good news is that their requirements of world opinion are different.

    ISIS has a slightly easier task, to turn Egypt from its neutral/sneering stance on Israel towards open military hostilities is likely their aim, or as far towards that as they can make happen. Their base of shifting alliances in the Egyptian Negev has been watched by all who can, and their main opponent is an Egyptian military that wants them gone from the Negev, to keep Saudi aid flowing to feed Egypt’s people. If ISIS can provoke massive Israeli border crossings into the Egyptian Negev, to strike at them, then their ability to call on the people of Egypt to be loyal to their Caliph, and fight the horrid Jews, will rise dramatically. Missile fire from Gaza has done this in the past, and some variant on that is likely, perhaps combined with some short border strike by ISIS terrorists themselves. Success in provoking an Israeli border crossing, in turn, will leverage the Egyptian military away from what the Saudis want of the Egyptian military, total destruction of ISIS adherents in Egypt.

    Iran has a slightly harder task, but more resources to accomplish it, and resources that may be a fading lever over coming years. The Hezbollah troops in Lebanon need not cross their border with Israel, because they have an arsenal of 10s of thousands of missiles that can strike throughout Northern Israel, and some as far as the Northern Negev/Central Israel. Using those to overwhelm present Israeli BMD systems, if they can, and thus provoke an attack into Lebanon, as in 2006, will do much to enhance the status of Iran’s missile weapons at home. This could be done possibly by supporting missile fire from Iran against Israeli airbases, once the shorter range Hezbollah-fired missiles have worn down numbers of Israeli defense missiles. They are stronger, financially, than they will be in future years. They may also be militarily.

    Israel is developing a laser defense layer for their territory, against the shorter-ranged majority of those 10s of thousands of missiles Hezbollah is sitting on. Once this becomes operational over enough of Northern Israel, Hezbollah’s ability to saturate Israeli BMD with short-range rockets in Southern Lebanon drops substantially. This would allow Israeli defensive missiles to be massively re-targeted against longer-ranged missiles, like those fired by Iran itself. This means that Iranian leverage may peak in the next few months. Forcing the Israelis to do anything at a newly called Geneva Peace talks will be much harder in even 12 months than today.

    Today, little or no help would come from the US, beyond the launchers on whatever Aegis cruisers the Seventh Fleet has near Israel. With a new President in the WH, that may change. In 2017, the first laser sites are supposedly going operational, and Iranian leverage drops dramatically. They may be in a “Use it or lose it” situation. Admitting their huge investment in Hezbollah is a wasting asset may be too much for their internal political maneuverings to cover.

  • Laurie

    It’s not if, but when – and when is fast approaching, it seems.

  • Andrew_W

    I watched the video but missed the bit about killing all the Jews.
    There are not going to be any major attacks against Israel, for the foreseeable future, the Hezbollah deployments are part of the Syrian civil war, the weaponry that it’s claimed ISIS is acquiring in Egypt is pitiful, and it’s spectacularly implausible that they could get it anywhere near the Israeli border.

  • D K Rögnvald Williams

    Rather doubt the barbarians expect to hold ground in the Golan. More likely, their goal would be to inflict damage and stir up world condemnation of Israel, in addition to the Arab street. They need to solicit recruits to replace men lost in Iraq and Syria.

  • Localfluff

    I hope Israel defends itself by proactively nuke Mecca and Medina and by cutting off the hateful arapes electricity and water supplies.

  • INSOMNiUS

    “…nuke Mecca and Medina…”

    ?!?! I sure hope that was just hyperbole, Localfluff. Although, I can and do understand your frustration. Besides, Israel has a seekret airbase in northern Iraq that the Iranians would need to deal with first.

  • Phil Berardelli

    I know this comment could be met with disbelief and even derision, but I think an attack on Israel by ISIS with support from Iran would likely become a disaster for both entities. I write this because for the past year or so I’ve been reading a unique blog that has been — until the author stopped posting recently — carefully tracking developments in Syria and Iraq using an unusual source: smartphone videos posted on the Web. A weapons expert, the blogger (http://www.thomaswictor.com/) reached some amazing but persuasive conclusions based on his analyses. He wrote that a number of years ago — but definitely during the Obama administration — Israel and the Arab League made peace and began working together, quietly. Israel, he concluded, has developed a new class of super-sophisticated weapons, while the Arab League trained a multinational group of special forces. Those forces have successfully infiltrated Syria and Iraq (and probably other locations) and have been waging an effective campaign against, essentially, all of the bad guys in the region. For example, at one point someone managed to wipe out 12 Russian generals who had gathered inside a well-protected Russian base in Syria. Also, someone shot down a Russian attack helicopter armed with the “best” defensive equipment. Even more amazing, someone is waging an entirely new type of warfare in Syria and Iraq, in which heavy weapons are rendered ineffective or are destroyed — without killing the people operating them. As I said, these statements might be met with derision. But I believe what Wictor has been reporting. If he’s right, there’s a miracle unfolding in the Middle East, and it is doing so despite, not because of, the policies and actions of the Obama administration. If someday there’s a report about mysterious events in Iran that have taken out their nuclear facilities, I’ll be giddy but not surprised.

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