Anyone Just a Little Tense?

 

May is getting really close. That is the day that President Trump is ready to no longer renew waivers on sanctions against importers of Iranian oil. That is the red line Iran claims will result in their closure of the Strait of Hormuz. That waterway is the chokepoint of almost one-third of the world’s oil. The United States has vowed they will keep the waterways open no matter what it takes. The United States has two aircraft carriers in the region, one in the Persian Gulf and the other in the Mediterranean Sea amongst others including an Amphibious Assault Unit. These have been supplemented with other weapon systems deployed around the region.

 

One has to consider that Iran technically controls all government decision making over an area near that of the United States, from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea over which they can threaten a broad array of countries. Granted, the United States has placed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Israel, which can provide a fair-sized umbrella of protection. Additionally, there are any number of support vessels supporting each carrier which includes defensive anti-missile technologies. We hope that everyone has thought this through to a conclusion and realize that, as the WOPR defense computer stated in the movie War Games, “Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.” We guess some in the world have yet to figure out that war is always a loss of resources simply for the destruction of resources already in use. Yes, the rebuilding provides work, providing the workplace is not a smoking, radio-active bombsite. The problem in this scenario is that one side may be under-estimating what the other side has in the way of offensive capabilities. Everyone knows that the United States has almost any weapon system you could ever need in surplus. What is unknown is the extent to which Iran is close to equal in their capabilities. The United States has the brighter, shinier and larger vessels, but Iran uses hundreds of dedicated individuals willing to ram those nice shiny ships and blow both of them up, one completely and the other a great gash in the hull. Iranian missile technology is another unknown as they are known to have ballistic missiles, but what is unknown is whether or not they have ICBM’s capable of striking the United States mainland. “Strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”

 

War Games WOPR Computer

 

But that is one of the problems when something such as this is started, one side has to blink before the other and preferably before too much of the planet is destroyed either economically or literally. Living in Israel makes one even more attuned to these situations because we are always a handy target to get somebody’s point across, and Israel will shoot it down anyway. Well, they will, won’t they? Well, we sure hope they can and do. It would ruin a whole week or more if one got through depending on the target and accuracy. There are two more unknowns though the accuracy question is the Iranian missiles can be extremely accurate. But isn’t that why the United States placed a THAAD system in Israel? Actually, that is only part of the reason. Another reason is that the United States often places or provides systems to Israel because we are more likely to need them and thus serve as an actual live-fire testing ground. It was just such testing that provided some vital information about a weakness, a blind spot, in the F-16 fighters. Since then they have all been upgraded with side-view mirrors so they can basically see behind their tail which can be quite vital to not being shot down. OK, so that wasn’t all that high tech, why do things have to be complicated. Sure, they could have placed a camera in the tail and a monitor in the cockpit such that when the picture cuts out, there is probably something on your tail shooting at you.

 

F16 with After Modification Rear-view Mirrors

 

There have been many other upgrades which have come from Israeli use of weapons such as the around the corner gun, a rifle with remote firing and a camera looking down the barrel so the soldier does not need to stick their heads out to see if it is clear. Unfortunately, when war comes to Israel, the civilians are the target group and the safest place is on an IDF military base. This, amongst a million other obvious arguments, is why Israel has spent so much on rocket and missile defense. We love when people ask why Israel is not spending billions of Shekels countering the anti-Israel propaganda war being fought against her. We simply ask them if they lived here, which would they prefer Israel invest, fighting words or fighting incoming projectiles. When it is put that way, it becomes amazing how quickly people realize that you can really only fight one war at a time and one type of war is always coming and kills people, the other is made up fabrications which truth will hopefully win in the end. We know that is wishful thinking, but we will live with things as they are and be glad should we ever need those defenses.

 

There is one thing which is an integral part of living in Israel, that is becoming nervous when things look as if they may boil over and spill into your own back yard. This is definitely one of those times as Iran has promised that in the case of hostilities with the United States, they intend to strike Israel first. This was the same threat given by Saddam Hussein when he was facing against President George Bush, both of them. They both attacked, Iraq and Iraq launched ballistic missiles at Israel. Fortunately, the vast majority were intercepted and the few which struck Israel did minimal damage and resulted in almost no losses of life. We are not sure what it is that makes these Middle East dictators threaten to strike Israel if the United States does anything as if such a threat would mean anything to the average American President. Their view is that Israel can take care of themselves just as long as they do not attack their aggressor. So, when Saddam Hussein launched a series of scud missiles at Israel, the United States demanded that Israel stand down and they would take care of the launchers of the scud missiles. Needless to point out, they missed a number of them which struck Israel for close to a week during the first Gulf War. President Bush was far more concerned with keeping his Arab allies than having Israel retaliate. There have been rumors that Israel was permitted to strike a single town from which the scud missiles had been launched and even then, only for one day. Further rumors claimed that this town ceased to exist in a single day. We are unable to confirm nor deny these rumors and present them simply for discussion.

 

Iran is a completely different matter as for them to strike Israel, they will need to use some of their furthest reaching and best guided missiles, at least as their current abilities are considered to be capable of launching. Further, these are their most advanced missiles according to current intelligence and they can carry biologic, chemical or nuclear warheads. This will require that every single missile be intercepted otherwise Israel could be facing a mass casualty strike. The entirety of the Middle East, even the Mullahs of Iran, that should Israel be attacked with any WMD, weapons of mass destruction, be they chemical, biologic or nuclear, will be responded to by Israel with the sole Israeli WMD, nuclear warheads. Israel unofficially has a few nuclear weapons capable of serious damage. Many intelligence sources claim Israel has between seventy-five and two-hundred nuclear warheads they could place atop a Jericho ballistic missile and deploy such to anywhere in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and if necessary, Israel is capable of striking anywhere on the globe. But Israel, and most Israelis, would prefer to never need to respond to an attack, especially using any WMD’s even in response to such an attack upon Israel. We want peace and quiet without the threats of terrorism, invasion, genocidal WMD attacks or any other form of violence of which one could think. We would far more appreciate being the source of discoveries, technological developments, cures, vaccinations, hybrid fruits and vegetables, plants capable of being grown in the desert with minimal water needs or a myriad of other advancements for the benefit of all mankind. But, despite the demand to design anti-missile systems such that Israel is capable of intercepting very short range projectiles, medium range missiles and rockets, long range rockets and missiles and ballistic missiles and even ICBM’s plus even the Trophy Systems for all varieties of military vehicles from main battle tanks to the generals field Humvee, there is a video at the link which is short and gives an overview of the Trophy System, and yes, you can add this threat defense system to the list of military advances Israel shares with the United States. The Trophy Systems as well as Iron Dome, Arrow Anti-missile Defense, David’s Sling Ballistic Missile Defense and other Israeli systems are currently protecting Israel and United States equipment and other critical assets.

 

Living in Israel is usually not very frightening and, despite what the news reports, you are less likely to be attacked including terrorism in Israel than one would be in the United States. Just like the United States, one can reduce their vulnerability simply by not traveling through specific areas. Our lives here have been quiet, peaceful and rewarding. We have found groups of friends and many activities which would have been next to impossible in the United States. People in Israel are mostly very friendly and willing to assist others. Charitable giving in Israel would be impossible to monitor as beyond the collection box at Synagogue which goes to charity and would be trackable, people are quite generous to those who are unable of finding employment to such an extent that one could afford modest accommodations and sufficient food from the generosity of others. Even many store owners have developed relations with people such that they are provided with goods. Even the coffee store where we purchase our coffee beans, yes, we are coffee snobs, he gives ground beans to a number of individuals who provide meals for those in need, organizations who have a meager budget and pay what they can and others who are just people of limited means. Perhaps it is knowing that at any moment war can be thrust upon Israel from every direction with the possible exception of from the west, but even the Mediterranean Sea could be part of an offensive upon our very small nation.

 

One has to remember, though Israel is often cast by the media and others as being this powerhouse nation which could withstand almost any form of attack, Israel is not the United States, it is New Jersey in size and when it comes to warfare, size matters. Fortunately, we have a cold peace with Egypt and another with Jordan, though there have been demonstrations in Jordan demanding that they need to attack Israel and be rid of the Jewish menace in the Middle East, plus we are technically still in states of war with Lebanon (Hezballah) and Syria. Syria has more than sufficient problems that attacking Israel is something some of the forces supporting Bashir al-Assad will attempt, especially the Iranian al-Quds Force and Lebanon will not strike at Israel unless instructed to open up a front in order to draw attentions away from Iran. Thus, the main front which remains active is with Gaza where Hamas finds it easier and more profitable for their leaders to keep the people rioting along the Israeli border as they blame Israel for every problem within their society. Truth be told, it has been the misuse of building supplies intended for rebuilding moneys and apartment buildings but instead used to build bunkers, tunnels, rocket launching positions underground, and infiltration tunnels under the Gaza border into Israel intending to use them whenever they press to force another war upon Israel. So, how are Israelis taking the new confrontational situation?

 

This current face-off between President Trump and the Mad Mullahs of Tehran does have many in Israel concerned, and rightfully so. We know that both sides have a problem with backing down and that unless one does blink and back down, then there will be another Middle East active conflict. As mentioned, this would be a conflict involving two sides fairly evenly matched for region of direct control as Iran currently has virtual control over Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen and partial control in Syria including the border with Israel along the Golan Heights. Looking at the current situation, President Trump recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel was required in advance of the ending of the waivers for export of Iranian oil. President Trump knew that the first front which Iran would open up would be against Israel just to see what the United States would do as far as reacting to protect Israel. Were the American planners taking the smart road, they would barely react to such an attack at all instead depending on the Israelis to defend themselves and address any threat from out of Syria. Would Iran turn loose Hezballah against Israel with a stockpile of approximately one-hundred-fifty-thousand rockets and missiles, then the United States is likely to assist in the destruction of these threats before they could be fully utilized. One can be assured that Israel knows where these missiles are stored and the locations of their launchers, even including the mobile launchers. That is probably the reason for a carrier strike group sitting in the Mediterranean off of the Syrian and Lebanese shorelines.

 

We are all holding our breath, not really, but hoping that one side backs down, and we prefer for it to be Tehran as, should the United States back down, then Iran would figure they were the more powerful country and thus would increase the attacks they finance across the Middle East and the world. President Trump has placed himself in a precarious position as should the Iranians press the issue over who actually controls the Strait of Hormuz, that would place not only Iranian fast ships against the United States fleets ships but also land-based launchers and artillery against American air-power. Iranians possess both Russian anti-aircraft missiles as well as their own reverse engineered and presumably improved versions of these systems. Additionally, there is a group consisting of Iranian warships and support vessels of undetermined size presumably headed for the United States eastern seaboard. This is their response to the American fleet close to the Iranian shoreline and within the main oil shipping lanes including the Strait of Hormuz. It is entirely possible that some of their apparent support vessels might be outfitted with a system allowing for them to fire ballistic missiles as far as a thousand miles making the majority of American cities along the coastline vulnerable to attack should hostilities begin. Such an attack on the American homeland would cause an escalation with its conclusion as anybody’s guess. Everything turns on one supposition, does Iran already have a nuclear warhead which is usable and if so, how many do they have. Most sources assume that Iran has yet to develop a nuclear capable warhead as they have been unable to miniaturize their system. We believe that this is nothing more than wishful thinking and that any war between Iran and the United States would turn nuclear in a very short period after its commencement. We foresee an Iranian ultimatum for the United States to cease hostilities or else. The or else would be left unstated, but should the brain-trust within the CIA and Military Defense establishment believe that Iran is not capable of having any weapons which could be considered an ‘or else’ and the Iranians have a warhead and the missile with which to deploy it and strike the American mainland, even if it was from a ship in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, then such a conflict would become all but uncontrollable as the stakes grow ever larger. Imagine the American response were New York to be struck with a nuclear weapon taking out most if not all of Staten Island or Manhattan. It could be Boston or Washington D.C. being struck at the same time. They might even target West Palm Beach in order to destroy Mar-a-Lago and any of these would bring an American response which is currently unthinkable. This is the risk the world is facing and we advise everybody, especially the two adversaries, to be very uncomfortable and take great care in planning their next steps. This is a situation where one wrong move could start a spiraling confrontation drawing in more and more nations resulting in something well beyond what was initially envisioned. Such underestimations of the strength and capabilities of an enemy have resulted in broader and more damaging conflicts throughout history. But then history is one of those subjects not being taught properly thus most younger people have little knowledge of the past, which is frightening.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

War of Words Escalating Between Iran and America

 

We wish to first cover the story of the IDF rescue of the eight-hundred White Helmets (Syrian civil organization of emergency responders) and their families from southern Syria war zone. Coverage by Arutz Sheva with a short video can be viewed here. This operation was carried out by Israel in response to pleas from President Trump, Canada and other European countries. One can only wonder how long before the same Europeans claim that Israel is not a nice nation as is their usual.

 

United States President Trump and Iranian President Rouhani have been exchanging verbal threats with President Trump adding in a social media Tweet just for good measure (see image below). President Trump even went so far as to use “caps lock” just for emphasis. President Rouhani promised in his retort to something President Trump stated which he found upsetting, that, “Peace with Iran would be the mother of all peace and war with Iran would be the mother of all wars.” We seem to remember a neighboring country’s ruler promising an American President the “Mother of all Wars” once before and that did not end all too well for Saddam Hussein. The reality is that Iran very well could be speaking from a position of relative strength unlike Saddam Hussein. We thought we would play with some thoughts, fears, and potential realities which should be taken into consideration and all intelligence gone through with a fine tooth-comb before stepping into the void.

 

President Trump Warning Tweet to Iranian President Rouhani

 

Iranian President Rouhani could have the ability to back up much of his threat with very real actions. Iran has been researching nuclear weaponry in various forms since the late 1980’s or, at best, the early 1990’s including specific research into EMP devices and miniaturized warheads. For argument’s sake, we will pretend that Iran had no real urgency about their research, something of which we actually believe they likely had a great deal, and their research proceeded at a leisurely pace. The Manhattan Project started in 1942 and developed the atomic bomb within three years and the United States tested their first hydrogen bomb, a thermonuclear bomb, within ten years of the start of the Manhattan Project. The United States had to start from scratch while the Iranians had knowledge on the architecture for both atomic and thermonuclear devices almost from the start. Their main difficulty was the processing or manufacturing of sufficient Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239 for the core of their devices. One item which is well known to those who have been paying attention to Iran is that they have been developing more and more advanced centrifuges capable of separating out enriched Uranium-235 at a fairly well advanced pace. Further, it can be assumed that their cooperation with North Korea has permitted them to test at least one or two devices over the years if not numerous more. They also would probably have exchanged information back and forth both on nuclear weaponry and guided missile technology which explains both nations’ fairly rapid advancement in both areas. Lastly, as the Chinese very likely had stolen or otherwise received the complete schematics and machining and design specifications for the United States W-88 warhead, it can be assumed that both North Korea and Iran have had access to that same information, though one could hope such is not the case. We are attempting to avoid using hope as our main argument in this instance.

 

So, it is painfully obvious that by the year 2000 Iran would easily have built sufficient processing facilities to produce the fissile and fusion elements for the production of thermonuclear warheads and the sole question is how many devices might they have produced. This is where estimates have been all over the board. According to sources reported and quoted by the Times of Israel, “Tehran has crossed all points of no return and already has its first nuclear weapon, and maybe more.” The same article also reports that the IAEA has assured the world that Iran in no way could have conceivably developed and built a nuclear bomb. We recall that the IAEA are the same people who claimed Saddam Hussein was not working on nuclear weapons, that Syria had no nuclear weapon dreams, that Libya had no nuclear program and that North Korea was years from being able to produce a nuclear weapon days before their first nuclear test. The IAEA has not been the most reliable source on nuclear proliferation as they are presumed to be preventing it and have decided that if they see no evil and hear no evil then they are able to speak no evil. Below we have included an artist’s rendition of two IAEA inspectors and one spokesperson. The evidence is that should Iran have desired to construct nuclear weapons, then the only question remaining is exactly how many of them have they produced, what are their projected yields and how distant can their missiles deliver them. These are serious questions which deserve answers which should be made known to the world through the United Nations or by the nation who knows the reality making the knowledge more generally known. This means if the CIA has solid evidence proving that Iran has nuclear tipped missiles, they should be producing such evidence for the world to see and reveal the perfidy of the Iranian claims of innocence and having no desire to become a nuclear-armed nation.

 

Three monkeys of “See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil”

 

As things currently stand, it would be more prudent to assume that Iran has nuclear tipped missiles in the ready and that these missiles are capable of striking anywhere on the planet. It should also be assumed that they would have such shorter-range missiles stored within what appear to be normative cargo vessels as they have developed such vessels to use to strike at cities along the shores of the United States and Europe should hostilities become to their advantage. These missiles would be extremely difficult to intercept, as their targets would be struck within minutes of the missile launching, as the ship would be only one-hundred miles offshore or closer. Iran has tested these systems finding them to be accurate and an efficient and difficult to deter system for delivering a warhead. The cargo ships they would utilize would more than likely be registered with a country other than Iran making them all but invisible unless the warhead could be detected. Iran is also rumored to have developed a non-nuclear EMP device which is capable of destroying the electrical grid for a city and surrounding region depending on the level of hardening the electrical grid has had installed. One can pretty much expect that at least the streetlights and traffic signals would be affected and stop functioning for a period of time. The real problem is if transformers are destroyed and the larger the transformer, the more serious the outage. The largest transformers can take up to two years to produce in sufficient numbers should an entire grid region be destroyed.

 

The truth is that both President Trump and President Rouhani are playing with fire and their bellicose threats can escalate potentially leading to one or the other taking the decision that the insults have reached a level beyond that which they are willing to accept and in order to save face they must act. This could lead to problems and further escalations which could end further than desired from the starting point. The Iranians including Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari has promised that should the United States prevent Iranian oil sales, they will prevent all oil from traversing the Straights of Hormuz. According to Xinhua, Jafari stressed, enemies can understand the meaning of Hormuz Strait “either for all, or for none.” The United States has promised that they will protect the use of the Straights of Hormuz for the oil shipments of both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, so should President Trump prevent Iranian oil shipments and Iran act on their threat, there would necessarily be a confrontation. Iran today is not the same Iran which fought Saddam Hussein during the 1980’s. They have more potential and are well practiced at their swarming tactics which create a great deal of difficulty against which to defend. Any naval confrontation within the Arabian Gulf and especially the Straights of Hormuz would also include Iranian shore batteries which would take time, short as it may be, to render inoperative which would also be seen as a further escalation. One can readily see how any confrontation over the free movement of oil in and out of the Straights of Hormuz could very quickly spin out of control. One can only guess as to how the United States would react should one of their nuclear aircraft carriers be attacked and actually sunk. Such would lead to reprisals which would provoke reprisals in return and back and forth until something inevitable and regrettable resulted. Wars have started over far less; take World War I for example. How many people died over a single terrorist act murdering Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie the Duchess of Hohenberg. So, now we are at the point of which leaders lower their level of vitriol, and let us pray one of them sees the wisdom in doing exactly that.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Gaza

 

Gaza, the word itself gives thought to meaning, and that meaning is different for every individual. It should not convey such latitude of thoughts, but that is largely due to the media and its mendacious reporting. With the world of reporting as it is, one often will have feelings on issues divorced from reality and stuck forever on a single picture and the caption or the repeated description of the amount of violence from both sides. The range of the “facts” when it comes to Gaza, and to everything touching Israel, is frightening and a threat to even the most basic truths. Once, back in college Intro to Philosophy class, we discussed and even argued fiercely over whether or not such concept of truth and reality had any meaning and how, if at all, were they related. In the end, we agreed to disagree and this was the exact point the professor was attempting to make. His conclusion was that reality and truth had about the same relationship to one-another, as we were able to reach an agreement. Put simply, truth and reality are relative to the viewer and as for is there an absolute reality, according to the professor, such only exists in the imaginary realm described by Plato. My thoughts on that were they probably sat next to the perfect three-legged chair with the perfect two-legged dinner table making them the perfect set for a meal with discussion.

 

While we are on the subject of college, it was in a physics course where we were introduced to the thought experiment, so let us try a thought experiment. First is we are going to represent the United States by using New Jersey, it is roughly the size and shape of Israel. We are going to move New Jersey into the Middle East replacing Israel. Gaza will be placed in the southwestern corner of New Jersey just as it is in Israel and New Jersey will be bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, Saudi Arabia to the southeast and Egypt to the south. These borders differ slightly from Israel but are fairly representative of reality. For those who disapprove of President Trump, you can choose to have John Fitzgerald Kennedy as the President acting as he did during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Now to put all of what has happened into a familiar setting, this is what would have been occurring. First thing is there have been violent riots continuously for the past two and a half months and are showing no signs of letting off. Over one-hundred rockets have been fired into New Jersey (Israel) striking as deep as Willianstown/Rahat and as far north as Camden/Ashkelon. Further, there have been hundreds upon hundreds of acres of crops and forests burned down by having incendiary kites and balloons flown over your border and this has started to show signs of increasing and using larger helium balloons to penetrate deeper into New Jersey (Israel). Your intelligence bureau has found maps showing the quickest and most direct routes to the neighborhoods bordering the points where these rioters have attempted to breach the border which have been provided to the rioters. The leader of Hamas and ruling power in Gaza has stated publically and loudly that the rioting would continue until the border is erased, all of New Jersey (Israel) has been liberated, and its people killed. He has urged that the rioter upon breaching the border tear out their hearts and eat their livers of those they come across and murder. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been provided with technology and the required molds for making larger rockets and even rudimentary guidance systems which allow for far larger rockets which can be targeted at specific areas striking within a couple of hundred yards. The largest of these are the M75 which is called the Jerusalem Rocket and the R160 (see chart for increased ranges over the years). That is where things stand currently with the kites and balloons still being launched, the rioting and burning of thousands of tires daily sending plumes of acrid smoke into Israel and across Gaza, the introduction of drones carrying incendiary devices and always the threat of more rockets and even having Iran order Hezballah to join the assault upon Israel.

 

New Jersey Representing Israel in Middle East
New Jersey City’s name on the top
Israeli City’s name on the bottom

 

We promised a map showing the increased range that the projectiles launched from Gaza have attained but allow us to add another item to the scenario, rocket payloads and ranges. The list goes as follows; Qassam-1 has a one and a quarter pound warhead with range of four and a half miles, Qassam-2 has a eleven pound warhead with a range of just over six miles, Qassam-3 has a thirty-three pound warhead with a range of seven and a half miles, Grad has a forty pound warhead with a range of twelve and a half miles, WS-1E has a forty-eight and a half pound warhead with a range of twenty-eight miles, R-60 has a two-hundred pound warhead with a range of over forty-five miles, and the M-75 has a three-hundred-thirty pound warhead with a range of over ninety miles. Looking at the map below and it is not beyond reality to believe that Hamas, supplied by Iran, now has even larger warheads on rockets which can strike anywhere in Israel and, if they overshoot, possibly striking Lebanon and Hezballah (one can only hope).

 

Hamas Rockets and Missiles Depicting
Increasing Ranges by Conflict with
Yellow – Dec. 2008-Jan 2009
Tan – November 2012
Orange – July-August 2014

 

So, we have set the stage. What do you believe an American President would do in case of such threats and provocations? Do you think his Security Cabinet would be discussing ways to alleviate the collapsing economic problems within Gaza by doing, as many in the IDF general staff have suggested, providing Gaza with building materials including plumbing supplies of all sizes, cement in the thousands of pounds, masonry in equal amounts, provide them with additional water from Israel as well as additional natural gas and electricity with Israel providing 100% of the necessary power to Gaza? The Israeli leaders actually believe that the problem is the economic conditions in Gaza causing the rioting and all the hatred and not that the hatred and throwing all of their funds into weapons and tunnels designed to destroy Israel ruining the Gaza economy. They were discussing doing what the United Nations and European Union claim is necessary to end the problems in Gaza. Really? Does any rational person anywhere on the planet not think that should Israel do exactly what is described above that the supplies would not be utilized with the plumbing used to make more rockets and mortar tubes and the cement and masonry to build tunnels and not schools, housing and hospitals. This is exactly what they used the plumbing from the greenhouses Israelis left so they could have at least one industry to help start an economic viability became Qassam-1 rockets, and whenever the United Nations, European Union or other nation or organization provided building materials, it almost all went into their tunnels throughout Gaza and into Egypt and Israel, the former for smuggling and the latter for infiltration and terror attacks. Watching the United States over the years and the only conclusion we can reach is if they were in the place of Israel, the world would not have a Gaza problem to discuss. Gaza would have been wiped clean off the map and replaced with casinos along the coast and track housing in the interior with greenhouses and crops of fruit being grown in every open area, which there would be quite a fair deal of after the American military was done. The morning after those one-hundred-plus rockets were fired across an area covering almost one quarter of New Jersey (Israel), the President would have already given the orders and every living thing in Gaza would be cleared from the land and if they resisted, shot on the spot. Everyone who was participating in the rioting would be targeted using facial recognition software such that every soldier would be notified by having the face of the rioter shaded in red in his visor telling them that this person was a legitimate target. Smart drones would be hunting out the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad with anti-personnel missiles ready for launching upon discovery. As for them hiding in their bunker under the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, that just might be the initial strike target. As for the rest of their tunneling systems, we are sure the United States has by now after Viet Nam developed an automated system for destroying tunnels and for shooting anyone found in the tunnel and not identified as an American soldier. What would be even more amazing is that there would be no meetings of the United Nations Security Council, the UN Human Right Committee or the General Assembly or any of the plethora of United Nations Agencies filled with busybodies usually just hunting for their next target. The deed would be done and the problem resolved quickly but not so quietly.

 

Israel, on the other hand, is expected to not only suffer these attacks, but the world demands that we feed and give relief to these very same people who are doing everything in their power to murder every last Israeli. As Israelis, we are not overly pleased with their intentions. There is a growing consensus amongst Israelis that the time has come to stop playing so nicely with these murderous terrorists and dealing with them just as any normal nation would deal with terrorists within their midst, destroying their ability to pose even the slightest threat and then making dead sure that they never gain have any hope of attacking Israelis with more than a sideways glance, and even that would cost them. This is a war between civilization and barbarians who are at our gates. The last time the barbarians at the gates were treated with kindness brought down the existing Chinese royalty when those barbarians swept across China. That should be one of the advantages of the location of Israel, we can look just as easily at Asia and Africa as we can Europe as the three meet at our doorstep. That has been an advantage as well as a curse as every empire seems to go through Jerusalem. The reality of what Gaza poses is written across the map showing the progressive increase in range and payload which Hamas and Islamic Jihad have at their disposal. This is traceable straight to Iran, and it is Iran who has a burning desire to eliminate the Jewish State, the Zionist Entity as they refer to Israel. This threat does not stop at Hamas and Islamic Jihad; it also comes from other quarters.

 

Iran currently has IRGC and al-Quds forces within Syria presumably assisting Bashir al-Assad in winning the civil war which attempted to overthrow him. What is interesting is the presence of al-Quds forces which are trained and presumably solely assembled with only a single target, Israel. Additionally, Hezballah has spread into Syria also under the guise of assisting with the civil war. Hezballah is another Iranian proxy who initially was to take control of Lebanon politically and destroy Israel. They now rule Lebanon and have replaced many of the Lebanese military officers with Hezballah officers but are still working on the second goal of destroying Israel. Hezballah is currently estimated to have over one-hundred-fifty-thousand rockets and missiles with over two thirds capable of striking anywhere within Israel and some which could reach Cairo and Medina. Many of these missiles are fitted with fairly accurate guidance modules provided by Iran and made in Iran, North Korea or China. One can only ask the simple question, what are our leaders waiting for, Hamas to have one-hundred-fifty-thousand rockets and missiles with similar capability to those possessed by Hezballah? What exactly will it take for them to wake-up and smell the trinitrotoluene (C6H2(NO2)3CH3)? We pray that the shot fired that the Iron Dome and other anti-missile defensive systems Israel has developed all fail to intercept taking down a forty-plus floor tower in central Tel Aviv is what it finally takes to force Israeli leaders to finally give the order to unleash the full power of the IDF to destroy Gaza and then have the infantry backed by armor retaking Gaza and sending whatever remains of the population into exile not caring where they end up. We have our doubts that even such a tragedy would even get such a reaction.

 

Sometimes we fear that our leaders fear being criticized by the leaders in Europe more than they are of Hamas to Hezballah. If that is the case, then please allow somebody more worried about the people in South Tel Aviv who are under daily attacks by illegal immigrants who should have been deported and if no place will take them, then fly them to The Hague and allow the United Nations deal with the problem. We want leaders who are concerned about the farmers and people in the kibbutzim along the Gaza border whose town centers are on maps showing the rioters the quickest route to reach them to find victims once they cross the border after destroying the fence (picture of the map). We had a mortar land in a kindergarten less than an hour before it would have been filled with young children in the yard (picture of mortar round remains and of damaged tree and area where children were due to arrive shortly). People have had their homes partially destroyed, their vehicles struck and there have been scores of dead and injured over the years from terrorist attacks and offensives which started actually calmer than this round.

 

The big fear is that all of this from Gaza is the lead up to a planned all-out attack from three sides with Hamas from not only Gaza but with Iranian backed terrorists assisting Hamas from the Sinai Peninsula along the Egypt-Israel border, Hezballah along the northern Lebanon-Israel border and a combination of al-Quds, IRGC and Hezballah attacking the Golan Heights. There are ongoing efforts by Iran to gain control over Fatah and the Palestinian Authority and once Mahmoud Abbas leaves office by some means, there is the possibility that Iran will back any number of those who contend for the crown. Iran desires surrounding Israel with proxies to do their fighting for them. They have been doing this in Iraq (Badr Brigades), Yemen (Houthis), Lebanon (Hezballah), Syria (Hezballah and Badr Brigades), Gaza (Islamic Jihad and taking control of Hamas) and Qatar which has adopted the Iranian side against the best efforts by Saudi Arabia. Iran wants to take at least the Shia majority northeastern area of Saudi Arabia with the majority of the oil fields and the western coastal region along the Red Sea in order to control the Red Sea and thus the Suez Canal as well as taking control of the Two Holy Cities, Mecca and Medina. Iran believes that without Mecca and Medina, the Saudi Royal Family would be overthrown and in the aftermath and confusion, they could simply take over the remainder of Saudi Arabia, thus become the largest oil producer, and control the price of oil making them masters of the Middle East and power beyond.

 

Iran has established an adherent base through Shia Islam who follows blindly the Khomeini innovated ideology which declared Islamic jurists to be the only true source of religious and political authority. Their pronouncements must be obeyed “as an expression of obedience to God,” and their rule takes “precedence over all secondary ordinances [of Islam] such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.” That gives the Supreme Leader (Rahbar) in Tehran almost complete control over these religious followers the world over. The goal is even greater with the “export our Revolution to the whole world” one of “the great goals of the revolution,” for the purpose of “establishing the Islamic state world-wide.” For a deeper coverage on this and Iran generally, we might advise this article (long) which goes into intricate details. The reality is Iran sees their largest and most hated enemies to be the United States and Israel in that order. They refer to the United States as the Great Satan and Israel as the Little Satan. Iran has a number of items on their to-do list which need be completed before they even consider taking on the Great Satan directly, but that day has been planned. The one thing that Iran has in their favor is patience. They are willing to take a hundred years, thousand years, and the rest of time to complete their conquest of the world. They will be careful and proceed with what they can take and rest until things calm and start again and repeat as needed. Iran has a training and action center in the Tri-Border region (PDF file) where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina borders converge. This has become a Hezballah training center and operation hub in the Americas. As we stated, they have plans on the Americas which eventually will lead to the United States. Their initial imperative is to prove that Shia Islam is the strong horse and the true inheritor of Muhammad and turn the Sunni followers into converts to Shia Islam. This they believe they will accomplish once they control Mecca and Medina and have defeated Saudi Arabia. From there they would plan to spread across northern Africa sweeping the heart of Islam and making Shia Islam the main power of the Islamic world. In the meantime, Israel has an Iran problem on almost every border and that should be concern one which must be addressed, and not by providing Gaza with more resources with which to attempt to murder Israelis because eventually they will succeed, and that day will become another day of mourning, and we have sufficient of those already, thank you.

 

Beyond the Cusp