(Galilee, Israel) — It’s not often that I have to begin with the U.S., and when I do it’s usually due to tragedy. This is no exception. In the early hours of New Year’s Day, 42-year-old Texas native, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, drove a rented truck around barricades and onto Bourbon Street in New Orleans where he proceeded to mow down victims with his vehicle.
Eventually, Jabbar exited the truck, at which time he was killed by police gunfire, wounding two officers in the process. In the end, ten people lost their lives and at least 35 were wounded. That this was an act of terror can be verified by more than just the ISIS flag that was tied to his bumper.
Police have also identified three men and one woman placing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the French quarter. A remote control linked to the devices was purported to be found in Jabbar’s truck. The city continues to be in a state of fear and college football’s Sugar Bowl Game, scheduled to be played in New Orleans last night, was postponed until tonight.
Later in the morning, the city of Las Vegas was shaken when a Tesla cybertruck exploded outside the front doors of the Trump Las Vegas hotel. The driver of the truck was killed and several others were injured. Whether it was a coordinated terror attack or just a random idiot, there is no question that it was intentional due to the “firework-style mortars” found inside and the fact that obvious coincidences of this Trump/Musk magnitude only happen in bad spy novels and Hallmark Christmas movies.
Israel
It was a study of contrasts in Israel this past week. Prime Minister Netanyahu experienced a boon to his life as he is recovering well having undergone surgery on his prostate on Sunday. The same cannot be said of his political rival, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who experienced the death of his political career when he submitted his letter of resignation from the Knesset yesterday. He will not be missed.
Gaza
It’s time everyone stops talking about potential hostage deals. Despite the rhetoric that Hamas spews out, a deal will never happen because they don’t want one to happen. They know that as soon as they release the hostages, their time is up. The only leverage these broken-down, barely breathing barbarians have are the innocent lives of the people they stole from southern Israel 15 months ago. So, they’ll say whatever they need to say to win the hearts of a world that is desperate to find a reason to love them and hate Israel. But their words are disingenuous, so the fighting will go on.
As evidence of the continued hostilities, Hamas suffered a devastating defeat late Sunday night. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) received intelligence that a large group of terrorists were planning to attack their forces in order to break out of Jabaliya. The IDF struck and by the end of the night 106 Hamas terrorists were dead.
If that sounds harsh to you, just remember that 600 people were beheaded on October 7. They weren’t enemy combatants. They were innocent children, along with their mothers and fathers. These were the actions that Hamas and their compatriots took that horrific day. Recently, it’s come out that the terrorist group spent seven years planning the October 7 attack. Seems they should have spent a little more time strategizing for October 8 and thereafter.
Syria
Questions have swirled through diplomatic circles about how to deal with radical Islamic group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the organization fronted by new Syrian strongman Ahmed al-Sharaa. Should countries remove them from their list of terrorist groups now that they’ve gone “legit”? Al-Sharaa has given relief to those wrestling with this question by saying he will dissolve HTS, which makes sense. Why lead a group when you can lead a nation?
But as this former ISIS and al-Qaeda militant desperately seeks legitimacy, the country he has taken charge of is still a mess. Murders, lynchings, and tortures continue in the Alawite areas of Syria. The Turkish army is going after Kurdish areas in the north of the country. On the positive side, the first aid plane from Qatar has reached Syria, and Saudi Arabia is launching a humanitarian air bridge to Damascus.
It is interesting to see the new players and the old players conglomerating in this jumbled up nation. Currently, all countries of the Ezekiel 38 war are invested to some degree in Syria. The one thing that unites these countries together is their belief in what they each feel they can individually gain from the destruction of Israel.
The IDF recently revealed a special forces attack they carried out four months ago, on September 8, deep in Syrian territory. Coined Operation Deep Layer, this assault began with an elite Shaldag unit rappelling from helicopters and raiding an Iranian underground nuclear center in Masyaf, Syria. While in the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS), the commando group stole documents, killed the guards, blew up the facility, then made their escape. Going to have to remember that one for future use.
Yemen
Yemen went after America’s reaper drones and the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group. The U.S. hit them hard, including on New Year’s Eve. Yemen won’t stop firing ballistic missiles at Israel, with one large fragment falling in Bet Shemesh, west of Jerusalem.
Israel continues to hit back, causing major damage around Sana’a International Airport and other locations. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said last week that the Houthis are on the verge of getting the Hamas/Hezbollah/Syria treatment. What are we waiting for? In international eyes, Trump’s already the de facto president. There’s no reason to wait until January 20 to bomb all Houthi missile capabilities to dust.
Double Standards
In Israel, we know that we live on the short end of a plethora of double standards. We’re used to it. But sometimes they are so egregious that they bear pointing out. There were two cases of this in the past week.
First was the suspension of Al Jazeera by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Qatar-based media company was accused by the PA of “inciting terror” in the West Bank. “These measures shall be applied until Al Jazeera chooses to act in accordance with basic media ethics, including its duty to prevent deliberate disinformation, ban the glorification of violence, and end the incitement to armed mutiny,” claimed the Palestinian group.
What was the international response to this deliberate censoring of the press? Crickets. Yet, when Israel banned Al Jazeera’s operations months ago, the global condemnation was deafening. Two standards.
On December 27, Shadda Tsaba’ died of a gunshot wound to the head on Mahyoub Street in the Jenin Refugee Camp. The issue is that Tsaba’ was a journalist and the shot came from a Palestinian gun. There should be public outcry around the world that a journalist’s life was taken by Palestinians. There certainly was a couple years ago when Shirin Abu Aqla, an Al Jazeera journalist, was accidentally killed by what may have been an Israeli bullet. At that time, Israel was painted as an enemy of the press and censorial on a military level. But when a journalist’s life is taken by Palestinian gunfire, once again we hear crickets. No Jews, no news.
Russia
The era of Russia’s energy stranglehold over Europe ended yesterday, when gas supplies passing through Ukraine to the western nations was halted. Knowing this day was coming, most of Europe has prepared itself by looking for other providers. This is also a major reason why Israel is anxious to get an underwater pipeline built that will supply gas to Europe. The loss of this market will cost Russian gas supplier, Gazprom, $5 billion per year. This void of Europe’s revenue and the growth of competition is one of the chief reasons why Russia may likely target Israel during the Ezekiel 38 war.
In that same vein, both Russia and Turkey are deepening their relationships with Libya and Sudan. This is a scenario that has not happened in the past, but which is necessary for the Ezekiel 38 war to take place. It is prophecy being carried out right before our eyes.
Iran
While the Iranian regime was lamenting the fifth anniversary of General Qassem Soleimani’s death, the locals were setting fire to banners bearing his likeness. The Iranian people are angry. Their currency dropped another 2.5% in the last week of the year reaching 820,000 rials to the dollar. Power outages are disrupting their lives, but all they see is that their leaders are funneling billions of dollars into terror rather than taking care of their citizens. They’re fed up and it’s leading to protests in the markets of Tehran. This is the optimal time to hit the head of the snake. Once the regime is cowed or gone, groups like Hamas, the Houthis, and others will become much more pliable.
Air Crashes
It was not a good week for air travel. On Christmas Day, an Azerbaijan Airlines flight left from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia. As it approached the Grozny airport, it had some problems either due to weather or something technical causing it to attempt to land three times. On the third attempt, passengers felt something hit hard into the plane. The pilots aborted the landing, gained altitude, then flew over the Caspian Sea to Aktau, Kazakhstan. Upon reaching this new unexpected destination, the plane crashed upon landing, killing 38 of the 67 on board.
Russian authorities first said that it was a flock of birds that hit the plane, but further investigation points to shrapnel from Russian air defenses severely damaging the aircraft’s body. The investigation continues.
Four days later, on December 29, a flight operated by South Korean Jeju Air crash landed at Muan International Airport. This time it appears that it really was a bird strike that caused this plane to go skidding off the runway. Only two of the 181 people on board survived, making this the deadliest crash in South Korean aviation history.
