Israel has been busy... and now terrorists in the region have a leadership vacuum.

 (I am surprised that they took this long to begin the process of hunting down terrorist leadership. After all, remove the head of the snakes and in the case of terrorists, that might not kill the snake but it will sure slow them down.)

Leftists, including Kackling Kamala, have been making demands on Israel to appease their terrorist base. And I get that, they need the terrorist-supporting and illegal votes in November.

Another one bites the dust.

Here's the problem: a cease-fire only benefits the terrorists. And when it comes to voting, who else are the terrorist-supporters going to vote for if not #roundheels?

The equation from Israel's side is simple.

To stop (or at least drastically reduce) terrorist attacks, they have to destroy terrorists in both gaza and the west bank. The only thing a cease fire would accomplish is a pause to allow the terrorists to resupply and rearm.

Part of that process includes the elimination of those in charge of these Iranian clients.

And since Iran is backing these terrorists, it likely will require the elimination of some Iranians as well.

Iran has to throw a fit for internal consumption; who can forget their last "revenge tour" that proved to be a debacle?

I support Israel. Period. They let terrorists fire thousands of rockets from gaza into their country. And they let that happen without retaliation, save for some air strikes.

Until October 7.

In warfare, there is no such thing as a "proportional response."

In World War Two, for example, the Japanese Killed 2,403 military personnel and 68 civilians.

Our (including allies) retaliation included as many as 2.3 million soldiers and as many as 800,000 civilians against Japan.

In Germany, 5.3 million soldiers and up to 3 million civilians. And it is of note that essentially, Germany did not attack us to kick off a war.

Israel is fighting for their existence, which a part of the hamas charter indicates they should not have. When you fight for your survival, you will no more be concerned about the niceties when it comes to your enemies than the enemies who raped and slaughtered 1400 mostly civilians, wounding/injuring 4600 more and kidnapping 240 more for hostages were concerned about the niceties for their victims.

Is there a risk of a, heaven forbid, wider war? Of course. Should Israel ignore the leadership of the organizations attempting to destroy them? Of course NOT.

Israel is a nuclear power. For now, at least, Iran appears not to have achieved that lofty perch/Obama/Biden's best efforts notwithstanding.

Would those whining about Israel's response prefer that form of retaliation? What does everyone sniveling believe Israel would do if their national survival was at stake?

The vast majority of gazans claim to support hamas. The vast majority of west bankers claim to support hezbollah.

Well, here's the deal using our past responses:

"All the gazans are guilty of the crimes of hamas, on the same level as the leadership of the hamas - because they chose and did not stop their power when they committed crimes against humanity."

Here's the reality:

The IDF incursion would end tomorrow.

All the gazans/west bankers have to do is turn over every member of hamas, every hamas supporter, all weapons and all monies/aid hamas has stolen to the IDF.

Return all hostages (and the bodies of those hamas has killed)

Turn over anyone involved in the Oct 7 slaughter, even peripherally.

Agree to frequent inspections to make sure gaza/west bank end their attacks on Israel.

And understand that Oct 7 means permanent occupation. And "permanent" means "forever."

Do this, and the military action would end.

The choices are stark. The choices are simple.

It's up to the people on the ground.

And their continued support of hamas makes them equally culpable.

Meanwhile, Israel rightfully will continue to do their work. And the leadership of hamas hiding out in the 5 star hotels in Qatar should probably update their life insurance policies.

Their play time appears to be over.

Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group on its way to Israel. What happens when they get there?

As I write this, a fleet is on its way to the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, presumably off the coast of Israel.

The question is... what are they going to do when they get there?

USS Gerald R. Ford arrives in Halifax on 28 October 22 (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

While that is and remains a question, there are a great many other questions to ponder: 

1. As thinly and undermanned as the US Military generally and US ground forces particularly are spread out, now, strategically, would be a golden opportunity for China to invade Taiwan.

What do we do if that happens?

2.  With the arrival of the fleet with the world's largest warship, (USS Ford happens to be that) what are they supposed to do once they get there?

What's the point of sending the Ford, a huge carrier, and sending a Ticonderoga class missile cruiser (USS Normandy) if we don't intend to fly combat missions and fire missiles?

3. Are we (quietly) preparing to send in some variation of the QRF: Marines, Airborne, and Airmobile?

If we're not going directly in a combat role, how can combat by these assets, presuming a limited role such as security for airports, how can combat be avoided given the fact that the hard corps Hamas/Hezbollah fanatics would cheerfully consider a death toll of ten of them to one of us as a victory?

4. What's our reaction supposed to be to the confirmed murder of at least 9 Americans?

This Kobayashi Maru-type scenario is one to consider: Do we risk the lives of our military to retaliate for the murder of nine Americans and the possible kidnapping of others?

Israel, for their part, is facing the possibility of the murder of upwards of 1000 or so hostages likely under Hamas control (allegedly, 750 or so are missing from the rave Hamas attacked. slaughtering 250 or so civilians) which, for obvious reasons, they cannot allow to deter them from a massive and effective response to Hamas terrorism.) as a result of these attacks.

There is a likelihood that at least some number of the postages hold American citizenship. If that is the case, what is our course of action?

5. It's been alleged that Egyptian Intelligence contacted Netanyahu directly and warned him of some unspecified horrific attack coming out of Gaza from Hamas... though they apparently did know when the attack was supposed to take place.

Netanyahu, for his part, apparently did nothing about this. That will all come out in the post-Gaza destruction autopsy. There will be plenty of blame to go around, since a large number bear responsibility for this disaster.

6. What happens if Hezbollah attacks from the north?

It's likely the Ford Strike Group is in range of Israel proper. Is their function in part to intimidate Hezbollah to behave? And what happens if they don't?

There are likely a great many other questions. But these rather intriguing efforts are just off the top of my brain dome.

Israel running out of options.

Reference day before yesterday’s suicide murderer attack.

Hopes were high. Yassir Arafat could only stay afloat on a sea of blood, as any sign of true moderation on his part would have resulted in his elimination.

Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat’s replacement, shows at least a patina of determination towards finding the common ground necessary to establish a lasting peace. The question all along has been: what will the terrorists do to screw up the peace process?

From the perspective of the terrorist group, it is not in their best interests to allow peace. Currently, the terrorist players in the region have power and notoriety. Hamas and Hezballah are, for example, major players on the terrorist scene in the region. They receive heavy funding from the state sponsors of terror; the get featured publicity in the world media; they impact political decisions at every level in the Middle East.

They take the public position that advocates the utter obliteration of Israel. “Peace” for the adherents of these groups, doesn't have any other definition than an Israel either denuded of a Jewish population; preferably by slaughter, or subsequently occupied by Muslim people of some sort, be they Palestinian or whatever…. Or, the destruction of Israel through some other means, including nuclear, no matter the cost to the Palestinian people… no matter how many hundreds of thousands of the Palestinians may die in the process.

There are, as I see it, only two options. Option One: Abbas finds the ability to eliminate terrorist groups involved in the region. The problem with this option is that the terrorist groups are far more concerned with enlightened self-interest then they are ever arriving at a peaceful solution to the problems in the region. Any attempt to seriously hamper regional terrorist groups will be met with the cheerful elimination of Abbas or anyone else bent on removing these groups from the playing field.

Option Two: Israel wakes up one day having reached the “we've had enough” point and they begin the forcible removal of the Palestinian population.

People tend to forget that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were tossed out of Jordan… killing more Palestinians in the process than the entirety of Israeli actions in the refugee camps. People tend to forget that 80% of Palestine is currently occupied by Jordan.

Palestinian Mandate:

Current Israeli/Palestinian Map:

Palestine as viewed by many, if not most in the Middle East:

(Notice the absence of any mention of Israel?)

These are, I believe, the options available. If any other option… any REALISTIC option exists, I’d sure like to see it. Because Israel will never allow their own destruction and there is no percentage in continuing to allow themselves to be attacked by young, ignorant, (Didja ever notice how it’s only the young stupid enough to blow themselves up?) easily manipulated (you have heard of the Down's Syndrome suicide murderer, haven’t you? Check THIS out for an overview.) idiots.