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SOTT Focus: The October 7 Hamas Assault on Israel: The Most Successful Military Raid of this Century

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Hamas paraglider troops cross into Israel, October 7, 2023
There is a truism that I often cite when discussing the various analytical approaches to assessing the wide variety of geopolitical problems facing the world today — you can't solve a problem unless you first properly define it. The gist of the argument is quite simple — any solution which has nothing to do with the problem involved is, literally, no solution at all.

Israel has characterized the attack carried out by Hamas on the various Israeli military bases and militarized settlements, or Kibbutz, which in their totality comprised an important part of the Gaza barrier system, as a massive act of terrorism, likening it to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks against the United States. Israel supports this characterization by citing the number of persons killed (some 1,200, a downward revision issued by Israel after realizing that 200 of the dead were Palestinian fighters) and detailing a wide variety of atrocities it claims were perpetrated by Hamas, including mass rape, the beheading of children, and the wonton murder of unarmed Israeli civilians.

The problem with the Israeli claims is that they are demonstrably false or misleading. Nearly a third of the Israeli casualties consisted of military, security, and police officers. Moreover, it turns out that the number one killer of Israelis on October 7 wasn't Hamas or other Palestinian factions, but the Israeli military itself. Recently released video shows Israeli Apache helicopters indiscriminately firing on Israeli civilians trying to flee the Supernova Sukkot Gathering held in the open desert near Kibbutz Re'im, the pilots unable to distinguish between the civilians and the Hamas fighters. Many of the vehicles that the Israeli government has shown as an example of Hamas perfidy were destroyed by the Israeli Apache helicopters.

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SOTT Focus: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - October 2023: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs


Comment: UPDATE 14 Nov 2023

YouTube appears to have "terminated" the entire SOTT Media channel - which archives 10 years' worth of monthly Earth Changes Summary videos - after some jealous 'extreme weather upstart channels' claimed copyright on several seconds' worth of footage used in several 2023 Earth Changes Summary videos. Fair Use by an all-volunteer staff working for a non-profit organization apparently means nothing to ruthless corporate mercenaries who are only in it for the clicks and notoriety. Unless or until our channel is restored on YouTube, SOTT Summary videos will be posted on our Odysee channel.


ecs1123
In loving memory of our dear friend and Earth Changes expert, Pierre Lescaudron.
As we approach the midpoint of Solar Cycle 25, which has had the lowest solar activity in about 200 years, we are experiencing cooler-than-average temperatures and unseasonable snow across the globe.

The Old Farmer's Almanac predicts a harsh winter for the Northern Hemisphere, with above-normal snowfall in most snow-prone areas of the U.S., with storms, showers, and flurries continuing into early spring. America's first Arctic blast of the season broke hundreds of low-temperature records and resulted in the most extensive late October-early November snowpack in NOAA records.
Heavy snow blanketed the Rocky Mountains, the northern Plains, the Great Lakes and northern New England, resulting in 17.9% of the Lower 48 being covered by snow by the time the calendar flipped to November - a new record in books dating back to 2003.
But the northern hemisphere was not the only one experiencing unseasonable cold temperatures and snow, South Africa got blanketed by snow in Spring!

So far, the signs of a solar minimum-induced ice age are becoming clearer and more present, so prepare accordingly.

October has also been marked by unusually severe storms around the world. In just one week, we've seen eight different tropical cyclones make landfall around the globe, from Yemen to China, Vanuatu, Mexico, and the Leeward Islands.

Some of the most intense storms during this month:

Comment: Minor edit: Between mark 3.17 and 3.28 the heavy flooding shown took place in Scotland, for details see:

Scotland Flood: A month's rain fell in 24 hours, 'danger to life' warnings extended


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SOTT Focus: NewsReal: Ukraine War Ends, Mid-East War Begins? Why America is Shifting Gears

ukraine Gaza war newsreal
© Sott.net
Anglo-American legacy media this week "quietly" announced an "end" to the Ukraine War, informing - correctly, for the first time since February 2022 - Western audiences that Kiev doesn't stand a chance militarily against Russia, that Zelensky is "deluded" and "messianic" about recovering the four provinces lost to Russia, and that American and European leaders have begun pushing him to enter negotiations with Moscow.

So, peace on Earth?!

Given current events in the Middle East, not least the Israeli obliteration of Gaza and the major deployment of US warships and forces in Israel and on the surrounding seas, it's more likely that the US Empire is 'pivoting' from Ukraine only because it considers the job there 'done' and now has bigger goals in sight.

This week on NewsReal, Joe & Niall outline the geopolitical contours of the next war for empire and its likely consequences for all. Also, what the heck is Dr. Jordan Peterson even talking about, telling Palestinians to 'shoulder responsibility' for the genocide being waged against them??


Running Time: 01:45:59

Download: MP3 — 72.8 MB


Books

SOTT Focus: Why Jordan Peterson is Wrong About the Israel/Palestine Conflict

jordan peterson
© Chris Williamson/Getty Images"Palestinians play the role of victim," says Peterson to Piers Morgan in an interview published on October 31st, 2023.
Dr. Jordan Peterson (JP), a Canadian psychologist, rose to fame circa 2016 with his stance against Canada's Bill C-16, his motivational speeches and self-help books. However, since his Tweet tagging Netanyahu to "Give 'em hell" ('em' being the Palestinians) on October 7th, he's rapidly losing popularity. On October 31st, Peterson joined Piers Morgan Uncensored to "give his thoughts about the Israel-Hamas war and to discuss whether he regrets the tweet he sent". As he shares his thoughts, it becomes increasingly clear that Peterson knows very little of any substance about the conflict. But that doesn't stop him holding forth as if he does.

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SOTT Focus: MindMatters: Five Myths about Evil: Setting the Record Straight with David Abramowitz

david abramowitz
Are all psychopaths serial killers? Is authoritarianism only found on the political right? Are we all equally capable of evil? Does power really corrupt absolutely? And is evil really "banal"?

Join us today as we discuss the biggest myths about evil with David Abramowitz, the nature of psychopaths and ponerology, and how McGilchrist's brain-hemisphere research fits into the picture.

David Abramowitz has a background in finance and accounting, but an experience with a psychopath set him on a path to research the topic for the next decade. He has read nearly everything there is to read on the subject, and describes a type which he has termed the "passive-parasitic" psychopath. These are the so-called successful psychopaths, the ones you'll find on Wall Street and in Washington. And they're the reason for much of today's pathological political climate.


Running Time: 01:30:06

Download: MP3 — 124 MB



Crusader

Flashback SOTT Focus: Witches, Comets and Planetary Cataclysms

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© Dot Connector Magazine
When you think of Halloween, what is the first image that comes to mind? I took a little informal poll among my friends, family and associates. Guess what image came in first? Jack-o-lanterns! Bet you thought I was going to say "witches". Well, I sure thought it would be witches, but they only came in a close second!..

When I think of Halloween, I think of grade-school art projects where we cut out silhouettes of witches to paste onto large yellow moons made of construction paper. The witch was always on a broom with her black dress flying in the wind, accompanied by a black cat sitting on the back of the broom. I wondered even then how the cat managed to stay on and why anybody would think that straddling a broomstick as a seat would be even remotely comfortable.

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SOTT Focus: NewsReal: Israel and US Implementing 'Final Solutions' to End Palestine and Multipolar World

newsreal gaza israel bombing
© Sott.net
Last week the American 'president', Joe Biden, gave a TV address in which he declared that he was sending half of America's sea power to 'protect Israel', part of Washington's plan to usher in a "new, new world order." While it's scarily obvious what Israel's attempting to do - ethnically cleanse Gaza and the West Bank of Palestinians - it's not so obvious what the USA is trying to do.

This week on NewsReal, Joe & Niall sketch how 'Armageddon' might play out in the coming months, with the US-led West apparently seeking to start a 'controlled burn' in the Middle East with a 'limited war' that would disrupt global energy supplies just enough to hinder its rivals and thus maintain American global hegemony. You know what they say about wishful thinking...

* Starts at 03:20 *


Running Time: 01:41:16

Download: MP3 — 69.5 MB


Star of David

SOTT Focus: The Myth of The Moral Army™: October 7 Testimonies Reveal Israel's Military Killed Many of Its Own Citizens With Tanks, Missiles

israel helicopter graphic gaza
© The Grayzone
Israel's military received orders to shell Israeli homes and even their own bases as they were overwhelmed by Hamas militants on October 7. How many Israeli citizens said to have been "burned alive" were actually killed by friendly fire?

Several new testimonies by Israeli witnesses to the October 7 Hamas surprise attack on southern Israel adds to growing evidence that the Israeli military killed its own citizens as they fought to neutralize Palestinian gunmen.

Tuval Escapa, a member of the security team for Kibbutz Be'eri, set up a hotline to coordinate between kibbutz residents and the Israeli army. He told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that as desperation began to set in, "the commanders in the field made difficult decisions - including shelling houses and their occupants in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages."

A separate report published in Haaretz noted that the Israeli military was "compelled to request an aerial strike" against its own facility inside the Erez Crossing to Gaza "in order to repulse the terrorists" who had seized control. That base was filled with Israeli Civil Administration officers and soldiers at the time.

These reports indicate that orders came down from the military's high command to attack homes and and other areas inside Israel, even at the cost of many Israeli lives.

Sherlock

SOTT Focus: What Really Happened on 7th October?

news headlines
Evidence is now emerging that up to half the Israelis killed were combatants; that Israeli forces were responsible for some of their own civilian deaths; and that Tel Aviv disseminated false 'Hamas atrocities' stories to justify its devastating air assault on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Two weeks after the Hamas breakout assault on Israel on 7 October, a clearer picture of what happened - who died, and who killed - is now beginning to emerge.

Instead of the wholescale massacre of civilians claimed by Israel, incomplete figures published by the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz show that almost half the Israelis killed that day were in fact combatants - soldiers or police.

In the interim, two weeks of blanket western media reporting that Hamas allegedly killed around 1,400 Israeli civilians during its 7 October military attack has served to inflame emotions and create the climate for Israel's unconstrained destruction of the Gaza Strip and its civilian population.

Accounts of the Israeli death toll have been filtered and shaped to suggest that a wholesale civilian massacre occurred that day, with babies, children, and women the main targets of a terror attack.

Now, detailed statistics on the casualties released by the Israeli daily Haaretz paint a starkly different picture. As of 23 October, the news outlet has released information on 683 Israelis killed during the Hamas-led offensive, including their names and locations of their deaths on 7 October.

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SOTT Focus: Evidence That an Israeli Jet Dropped an Air Burst Bomb on the al-Ahli Hospital Courtyard

Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital Gaza
Screen grab captured from a video shows the doctors of the al-Shifa Hospital making a press statement among the corpses after the injured and dead are brought there following the Israeli attack on Gaza's Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, in Gaza City, Gaza on October 17, 2023
It's true that Israel didn't "bomb the al-Ahli hospital" in Gaza on the night of Oct. 17th 2023. The evidence suggests it did something much worse.

As is the case with all other hospitals in Gaza, al-Ahli hospital had become a refuge for the thousands of people internally displaced in Gaza due to Israel's massive bombing campaign that began on Oct. 7th. On the night of Oct. 17th, hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children had congregated in the courtyard of the hospital (the hospital itself being already full) because they believed it to be a relatively safe haven from Israeli bombs.
Canon Richard Sewell, the dean of St George's College in Jerusalem, told the BBC that about 1,000 displaced people were sheltering in the courtyard when it was hit, and about 600 patients and staff were inside the building.
Not only had the IDF already warned this hospital in the three consecutive days before the explosion that it would be attacked, they actually attacked it on Oct. 14th, hitting the cancer ward. Since Oct. 7th, the WHO has reported 59 attacks on healthcare establishments in Gaza City and 137 across the entire territory of the Gaza Strip.

Note also that, in the past week, Israeli political and military elite have publicly stated that they view all Palestinian resistance groups as "literal Nazis" and by implication the Palestinian people as "Nazi sympathizers", and therefore "subhuman" and not entitled to the same rights as "normal" human beings.

Initially, and based on claims by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and hospital staff, the media reported that Israel had bombed the hospital, "killing hundreds of people." Within a day however, the IDF claimed that the explosion was in fact a result of a PIJ rocket that "misfired" and hit the area, and provided evidence to "prove" it.