The Full Belmonte, 10/8/2023
Israel says it is 'at war' after Hamas surprise attack
By Tara Subramaniam and Andrew Raine, CNN
“Fighting in Israel is raging a day after Hamas fighters breached the border from Gaza in a surprise attack, killing at least 350 people. The Palestinian militant group said its fighters were present in several southern Israeli cities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will respond by ‘embarking on a long and difficult war.’ Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes, which have killed more than 300 people.
Hamas claims it has captured dozens of Israelis, including soldiers, and videos authenticated by CNN show some of the dramatic seizures. Israel's military has acknowledged hostages were taken.
It's unclear what Israel's full response will look like. An Israeli military spokesman hinted Israel may try to take full control of Gaza for the first time since 2005. More than 20 communities near Gaza are being evacuated.” [CNN]
Afghanistan earthquake: Hundreds feared dead in 6.3 quake
“Rescuers try to reach survivors after the quake reduced villages to rubble in western Afghanistan.”
Read more at BBC
Lebanon's Hezbollah shows ‘solidarity’ for Palestinian groups fighting Israel by launching rockets into disputed territory
“Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful militant group and major political party, said it had struck three locations in the disputed Shebaa Farms on Sunday morning in what it described as an effort to retake Lebanese land from Israel and support the ongoing Palestinian battle.”
Read more at Washington Post
Six Colombians held in assassination of Ecuador presidential candidate reported slain inside prison
“QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Six Colombians arrested as the alleged assassins of a candidate in Ecuador’s August presidential election were slain Friday inside a prison in Guayaquil, officials announced, without providing details on what happened.
The prison authority said only that six prisoners killed inside Litoral Penitentiary were the men ‘charged with the murder of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.’ It identified them as Jhon Gregore R., Andrés Manuel M., Adey Fernando G., Camilo Andrés R., Sules Osmini C. and José Neyder L.
Earlier, the agency had reported that ‘an event occurred inside’ the prison and six people were dead. Litoral is Ecuador’s biggest prison and is considered one of its most dangerous, being the scene of several riots with deaths the past three years.
The killings came as the Prosecutor’s Office was near the conclusion of the investigation stage into the killing of Villavicencio, who was gunned down Aug. 9 while leaving a political rally….” Read more at AP News
Newsom Vetoes Bill Banning Caste Discrimination
“Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have made California the first state in the country to expressly ban discrimination based on caste, stating that the measure was ‘unnecessary’ because it was already covered by existing laws.
Why It Matters: The bill reflects divisions in the state’s South Asian community and its influence as a growing demographic.
The bill, known as Senate Bill 403, had driven intense debate — and divisions — within the growing South Asian community in California recently, especially in Silicon Valley, where South Asians make up a significant share of the work force.
Governor Newsom’s rejection of the bill is a victory for some Hindu residents and organizations who had argued that the proposal unfairly targeted them because the caste system is most commonly associated with Hinduism. They asserted that caste discrimination in the United States was rare and that existing laws banning discrimination on the basis of ancestry and religion were sufficient.
‘This has been months of concern and stress that we’ve been carrying about the impact that this would have on the civil rights of all South Asians regardless of background, and we’re glad the governor saw the problems with it,’ said Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, one of the organizations leading the opposition.
It comes as a blow to proponents of the bill who had argued that an explicit ban on caste discrimination was needed to increase awareness that such bias exists in the United States and to reassure victims who want to come forward. A group of South Asian activists had been on a hunger strike outside of Mr. Newsom’s office since early September to urge the governor to sign the bill.
In recent years, several universities and companies have added caste to their discrimination policies. Late last month, Fresno officially became the first city in California, and the second in the country after Seattle, to enact such a ban. But Governor Newsom is considering a future run for the White House, and he may not have wanted to get in the middle of longstanding ethnic and religious tensions among some Indian Americans, who are a fast-growing and vital demographic in purple suburbs and swing states.
This month, Republican state legislators, who largely opposed the measure, sent Mr. Newsom a letter echoing arguments from the bill’s opponents….” Read more at New York Times
An Attack From Gaza and an Israeli Declaration of War. Now What?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being pressured to launch a full-scale invasion that Israeli leaders have been scrupulously avoiding since 2005.
“Nearly 50 years to the day after the Yom Kippur war of 1973, Israel has again been taken by surprise by a sudden attack, a startling reminder that stability in the Middle East remains a bloody mirage.
Unlike the series of clashes with Palestinian forces in Gaza over the last three years, this appears to be a full-scale conflict mounted by Hamas and its allies, with rocket barrages and incursions into Israel proper, and with Israelis killed and captured.
The psychological impact on Israelis has been compared to the shock of Sept. 11 in America. So after the Israeli military repels the initial Palestinian attack, the question of what to do next will loom large. There are few good options for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has declared war and is being pressured into a major military response.
Given that 250 Israelis have died so far and an unknown number been taken hostage by Hamas, an Israeli invasion of Gaza — and even a temporary reoccupation of the territory, something that successive Israeli governments have tried hard to avoid — cannot be ruled out.
As Mr. Netanyahu told Israelis in declaring war: ‘We will bring the fight to them with a might and scale that the enemy has not yet known,’ adding that the Palestinian groups would pay a heavy price.
But a major war could have unforeseen consequences. It would be likely to produce sizable Palestinian casualties — civilians as well as fighters — disrupting the diplomatic efforts of President Biden and Mr. Netanyahu to bring about a Saudi recognition of Israel in return for defense guarantees from the United States.
There would also be pressure on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that controls southern Lebanon, to open up a second front in northern Israel, as it did in 2006 after an Israeli soldier was captured and taken prisoner in Gaza.
Iran, a sworn enemy of Israel, is an important backer of Hamas as well as Hezbollah and has supplied both groups with weapons and intelligence.
The conflict will unite Israel behind its government, at least for a while, with the opposition canceling its planned demonstrations against Mr. Netanyahu’s proposed judicial changes and obeying calls for reservists to muster. It will give Mr. Netanyahu ‘full political cover to do what he wants,’ said Natan Sachs, director of the Center for Middle East Policy of the Brookings Institution.
Nevertheless, he added, Mr. Netanyahu has in the past rejected calls to send thousands of troops into Gaza to try to destroy armed Palestinian groups like Hamas, given the cost and the inevitable question of what happens the day after.
‘But the psychological impact of this for Israel is similar to 9/11,’ he said. ‘So the calculus about cost could be quite different this time.’
The question will always be what happens afterward, said Mark Heller, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. Nearly every year there have been limited Israeli military operations in the occupied territories, but they have not provided any solutions.
‘There is a lot of heavy pressure already for a large-scale incursion, to ‘finish with Hamas,’ but I don’t think it will solve anything in the longer run,’ Mr. Heller said.
But Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister and foreign minister, said a major Israeli assault on Gaza was almost inevitable, particularly if Israeli soldiers were taken hostage. ‘If Hamas has taken Israeli soldiers as prisoners and taken them to Gaza, a full-scale Israeli operation into Gaza looks highly likely,’ he said on X. ‘Another war.’ The same presumably would hold true for Israeli citizens.
Israel and Mr. Netanyahu have been wary of sending ground forces into Gaza. Even in 2002, when Ariel Sharon was prime minister and Israeli forces crushed a Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, the government chose to avoid sending significant extra forces into Gaza, where it then had Israeli settlements.
Israeli unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and citizens from Gaza in 2005, while retaining effective control of large parts of the occupied West Bank. The failure of that withdrawal to secure any sort of lasting peace agreement has left Gaza a kind of orphan, largely cut off from other Palestinians in the West Bank and almost entirely isolated by both Israel and Egypt, which control Gaza’s borders and its seacoast. Palestinians often call Gaza ‘an open-air prison.’
After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the conflict of 2006, an internal struggle between the Fatah movement of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the more radical Islamist Hamas movement ended with Hamas taking control of the territory in 2007, prompting Israel to try to isolate Gaza even further.
Even in an extended conflict of 2008 and 2009, Israeli forces entered Gaza and its population centers but chose not to move too deeply into the territory or to reoccupy it, with a cease-fire brokered by Egypt after three weeks of warfare.
Successive Israeli governments insist that after the 2005 withdrawal, it no longer has responsibility for Gaza. But given Israel’s control over the borders and its overwhelming military advantage, many groups like B’Tselem, which monitors human rights in the occupied territories, argue that Israel retains significant legal responsibilities and obligations for Gaza under international humanitarian law.
While Hamas has not been clear about why it chose to attack now, it may be a response to growing Israeli ties to the Arab world, in particular to Saudi Arabia, which has been negotiating a putative defense treaty with the United States in return for normalizing relations with Israel, potentially to the neglect of the Palestinians….” Read more at New York Times
Powerball jackpot up to $1.55 billion as lottery losing streak continues
“DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.55 billion after no one matched the game’s six numbers Saturday and won the giant prize.
The numbers drawn Saturday night were: 47, 54, 57, 60, 65 and red Powerball 19.
The $1.55 billion prize is for a sole winner who is paid through an annuity, with annual checks over 30 years. Most jackpot winners opt for cash, which for the next drawing Monday night would be an estimated $679.8 million….” Read more at AP News