Tag Archives: Hamas hostages

Oct 18 2023

Israel v Palestine – Military Power


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Oct 17, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Let me begin by stating that Palestine does not have a military. The terrorist group Hamas contains between 30,000 and 40,000 fighters, but only a few hundred are believed to have received proper training. Hamas does not have an air force or any naval power. In contrast, Israel has one of the most advanced defense forces in the world.

International Institute for Strategic Studies’ (IISS) Military Balance 2023 states that Israel has 169,500 active duty military members, with another 465,000 in the reserve forces. Every adult in the nation has received proper basic military training. Israel has over 2,000 main battle tanks and 615 heavy infantry fighting vehicles, while Hamas currently has 0. Their impressive air force has 196 F-16 fighter planes, 83 F-15, 36 F-35, 140 military helicopters, and 43 Apache attack helicopters. They also have five submarines and 49 battleships. Then there is the once-thought-to-be impenetrable Iron Dome and, most importantly, nuclear weapons.

Israel has a defense budget of around $23.6 billion. America and other nations have been funding Israel’s military, with America alone providing $118 billion since 1949. The Biden Administration has pledged an additional $2 billion in supplementary funding, and other Western nations will follow.

The US Navy has been deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. Are we sending extremely advanced technology to defeat a few hundred barely trained ground soldiers? The US sent two carriers to an enemy that has no carriers or aircrafts aside from some paragliders who have managed to bypass the Iron Dome. Again, Palestine does not have a military – at all. Hamas uses the people of Palestine as human shields and that is its main defense system.

We are preparing for World War III. The players are entering the arena for something much larger than Israel v Palestine. The Neocons across the globe are moving in full force to promote this war. This is precisely what our cycle had predicted for 2023, with a spike in violence in the Middle East. Those who read “The Next Jihad” know that the worst is sadly yet to come.

Oct 18 2023

Jordan and Egypt Cancel Summit With Joe Biden


Posted originally on the CTH on October 17, 2023 | Sundance

Joe Biden was literally in the air, flying toward the region when Jordan’s King Abdullah just cancelled the summit between Egyptian President al-Sisi, Abdullah and Biden. This is more than a little sunlight on who Abdullah was talking about earlier when he said, “the usual suspects were trying to create Defacto issues on the ground.”

(Reuters) Jordan has cancelled a summit it was to host in Amman on Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden and the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss Gaza, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said. (link)

Now tell me again, why Joe Biden is going to Israel?   What strategic value is within this visit?

Yesterday I provided some of my own thoughts on the motives.  “The people behind Joe Biden are sending him to Israel for (1) part of a rebranding effort; and (2) to impede Netanyahu and buy time for Hamas.”

Today, Caroline Glick affirms my perspective and also gives some troubling information about: (a) the White House demanding an invitation; and (b) Anthony Blinken threatening Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to hold back the ground invasion or the U.S. will not allow munitions and bombs Israel needs for resupply.   WATCH:

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Oct 18 2023

PERFECT – Absolutely Perfect, King Abdullah II of Jordan Lays Down the Hammer, No Palestinian Refugees in Jordan or Egypt


Posted originally on the CTH on October 17, 2023 | Sundance

Oh man, this is going to make the leftist/globalists go nuts.  Keep in mind, King Abdullah of Jordan is speaking directly, forcefully and without pretending on the eve of Barack Obama and Joe Biden launching an effort to use the Gaza crisis to stir up regional trouble.

This video snippet is absolutely perfect, from the position of those pragmatic nationalists who want a long-term solution that applies pressure on the Palestinian people to solve their own problems.  They want Hamas; they have Hamas.  King Abdullah, along with Egyptian President al-Sisi, are not going to be pawns in the refugee games Obama and Biden intend on playing.

Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz had requested Jordan take in Palestinian refugees; Abdullah shut that down immediately and without equivocation.  King Abdullah, speaking on behalf of President al-Sisi, just crushed Scholz in front of the international media and draws a red line.  WATCH: 

[Also, eff the AFP who have blocked CTH from their video segments.]

You will not see these remarks by King Abdullah II shared widely on Western media, because it just doesn’t fit the Palestinian refugee narrative.

Ed Morrissey nails this one.

[…] “Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has already rejected this idea, and with even more reason. As I wrote last week, Hamas sprang out of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and the Muslim Brotherhood wants al-Sisi dead. Why in the world would anyone think that al-Sisi would allow tens of thousands of potential Muslim Brotherhood foot soldiers into his country now? If Germany or any of the other leaders in the West took even a moment to consider the precarious nature of both regimes, they’d be embarrassed to even have floated this idea.

The only country that should give refuge to the Gazans at the moment is Iran. They authored the present misery of the Gazans through their proxy Hamas. Iran won’t take them in either, though, even apart from the logistics of that kind of relocation. For one thing, the Persian Shi’ite mullahs could care less about the mainly Sunni Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank, but also they can’t afford their destabilizing presence either. They already have a restive population that the IRGC can barely contain, and that population hates the Palestinians and the way that the mullahs exploit their cause to justify their oppression.

Abdullah is right about the solution to the Palestinian issue, too. “This is a situation that has to be handled within Gaza and the West Bank,” he declared. The answer lies with the Palestinians, and it always has. Had they accepted the 1948 partition, they would never have had to live for eight decades in camps. Had they chosen to pursue peace and engagement with Israel as a final outcome, they would have had their own state decades ago, along with tons of Western investment. Instead, the Palestinians have insisted on annihilating Israel and seizing the land “from the river to the sea,” and keep adding to their misery.” (more)

Oct 17 2023

Mexico Protects its Civilians Abroad


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Oct 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Mexico’s Air Force is entering an active warzone to bring home their citizens. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated that up to 300 Mexican citizens have registered to flee Israel amid the war, and Mexico’s military will bring them home. “It was decided to send a plane that departs today in the morning, and another one is being prepared to leave in the afternoon, and we are looking for the protection of all our nationals,” said Lopez Obrador.

Not many other countries can say the same. Joe Biden has absolutely zero effort to rescue the American citizens trapped in the Middle East. Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) stated that he is personally working to evacuate 32 American nationals from Israel without the support of the White House. Mills said that this is “the second time doing the Biden administration’s work, because they have no plan, they have no strategy to get these Americans out who are trapped and these church groups that had been left behind.” He continued, “I went in and was very thankful to be able to get — for the second time by the way, I’ll just add, helping the Biden administration — who has failed to do their job. The first time I did it was in 2021, when I conducted the very first successful overland rescue of Americans, but here it is, the second time doing the Biden administration’s work, because they have no plan, they have no strategy to get these Americans out who are trapped and these church groups that had been left behind.”

Now, let us not forget Biden wanted to provide $6 billion to Iran, a known enemy with nuclear powers, in exchange for five Americans nationals. At least, that was the excuse provided. Biden also released a notorious arms dealer back to Russia in exchange for a female basketball player who broke the law by bringing drugs into a foreign country. Griner openly hated America and refused to stand for the national anthem since she thought she was oppressed until she lived in a Russian prison. And yet, now Russia has one of their top gun lords back because Biden wanted to score woke ESG points by rescuing a black lesbian female athlete. In that same exchange, Biden left behind Paul Whelan, a US veteran who served and loved his country. Most people do not know the name Paul Whelan, but Brittney Griner is a household name in America because the media gave her 24/7 coverage.

Mexico does not want to be involved in the conflict. They went, got their people, and left. “We are in favor of peace. We do not consider that violence should be used… we do not want war, we do not want confrontation, we do not want violence, we maintain that it is the most irrational thing that can exist,” said the president. America could find a way to enter Israeli airspace and bring its citizens home safely, but the Biden Administration does not care about the American people.

Oct 17 2023

Hamas Claims 250 Hostages Taken During Terrorist Attack – However, Hamas Only Controls 200 and Is Willing to Release the Foreign Nationals


Posted originally by the CTH on October 16, 2023 | Sundance 

Everything, and I do mean e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, that comes from the mouth of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obaida, should be viewed through the prism of extremist propaganda.  Hamas is doing and saying everything possible to manipulate media and create pressure on Israel in advance of the ground invasion.

That said, Abu Obaida is claiming that “at least” 250 hostages were taken during the terrorist attack on October 7th, yet some of the hostages were not taken by official Hamas groups, but by other members of the Palestinian resistance who crossed the border behind Hamas to retrieve hostages “for their own purposes.”

The number of non-Hamas hostages is claimed to be around 50, possibly more, and they were likely abducted for pathological purposes, ie. torture for fun and Palestinian enjoyment, community abuse to be recorded for celebratory purposes, public rape and sex slavery, along with other forms of horrific human degradation. [If any of these people are factually still alive, they would likely be better off dead.]

Abu Obaida is claiming that Hamas officially has 200 hostages, and “some” of them are foreign nationals. They are willing to release the “foreign nationals” unconditionally when passage is safe.   This “foreign nationals” part of the claim appears intended to target the international community of public opinion – to put pressure on Israel to back off.

Richard Engel (MSNBC) has a video report here.  Although, I would caution you to review this narrative with extreme cynicism.  Time Magazine has also reviewed the Abu Obaida video statement, and their review/analysis is below:

(GAZA – Newsweek) – The spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing has announced that the group is prepared to release non-Israeli prisoners among at least 200 people in custody once their safety could be guaranteed amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes against the Gaza Strip.

Speaking in a 10-minute video published Monday, Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obaida said that, while he could not provide an exact count of the number of people seized in the shocking Palestinian air, land and sea assault conducted on October 7, he estimated the total figure to be “between 200 and 250, or exceeding that.”

“The Al-Qassam Brigades has about 200 prisoners and the rest are distributed among other components of the resistance or in places in which we cannot count them,” Abu Obaida said.

He stated that 22 prisoners have been killed so far in Israeli airstrikes, but that the group was treating all those taken fairly.

“We deal with prisoners according to the dictates of the teachings of our religion,” Abu Obaida said. “Their care is required by moral and humanitarian duty. They eat what we eat, they drink what we drink, and they live under the same conditions as all the people in Gaza.”

He said that among the captives were those of “different nationalities” that could not be verified in full as a result of the ongoing wartime conditions.

“They are our guests we seek to protect them and the moment the conditions on the ground allow we will release them,” Abu Obaida said. (read more)

Hamas leadership living in Doha, Qatar