Went to the supermarket today. I haven’t seen any evidence of panic buying. The shelves are full of everything. Unlike with Covid, certain products, like toilet paper etc., haven’t disappeared from the shelves. I am finding it hard to understand why, even though I myself have not indulged in any panic buying at all. If we get bombed, God forbid, how is toilet paper going to help me? Whatever we have to endure, we will do it together, helping one another. I’m sure whole neighborhoods will band together to supply the needy.

How very convenient that Hamas supporters have chosen Yahya Sinwar to replace Haniyeh! After all, he is already six feet under… Lots of Gazan posts to social media showing themselves shouting down cracks in the earth: “Come out, brother… come out… they chose you as the leader of the movement… for Allah’s sake, come out… so we can congratulate you… just come out already.”

I guess they just couldn’t find another candidate willing to face the IDF above ground. Gee, I thought they loved martyrdom, you know the old, relentlessly repeated: “We love death the way you love life.” Apparently not. But Sinwar has to come out. How else will they deliver Haniyeh’s billions to him?

A shocking and flabbergasting situation in Israel’s High Court of Justice today, the same High Court that has been the center of so much controversy, many Israelis viewing it as an unelected dictatorship overriding Israel’s democratic institutions. The Court was holding a hearing on the reservists accused of “torturing” Nukhba terrorists. This was too much for the parents of the children and young people kidnapped, raped, blown up and burnt alive by these same Nukhba terrorists on October 7. Bereaved parents entered the courtroom and shouted: “Shame on you! We should kill all the terrorists Why aren’t you discussing the treatment of our children?!”

Truthfully, we need to either use the death penalty law already in place for Nazis, or pass a new death penalty law. That, and rapid military tribunals to sentence terrorists, will put an end to this cancer before it spreads. Of course we must adhere to the rules and laws about prisoner treatment. But we also owe it to the victims to punish the perpetrators in a fitting manner, i.e., death by hanging or firing squad. We have no right to draft reservists and give them the filthy job of caring for these brutal enemies who should not be in jail, but burnt ashes scattered to the wind far away from our homeland.    

The current thinking on the “revenge” threats, is that Iran has reconsidered and is going to leave that to Hezbollah, as Nasrallah so broadly hinted in his speech yesterday. Lebanon is not exactly in the best position at the moment to be Iran’s knight in shining armor. It’s missing too many key people. Many of the Lebanese have been displaced owing to Hezbollah activities against Israel, and will be furious if Hezbollah’s actions bring down even more suffering on their heads.

But honestly, I disagree. I believe Iran is going to deliver personal blows for the sake of their “honor.” It’s all about “honor,” you know. They can commit the filthiest crimes, and yet are very touchy about their nonexistent “honor” which they feel must be redeemed even given the suicidal risk involved. It’s irrational.

I think they are waiting for the 9^th of Av, which they feel will give them the best shot, being the worst day in the Jewish calendar. You think they are ignorant of Jewish history, religious laws and customs? They are not. Some even say that they started this war because some Israeli Jews brought in a red cow (traditionally the ashes of the red cow are needed for purification rituals to rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem). They know all about these things. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they are waiting. And God help us, I’m afraid of that kind of timing too.

We will suffer. People in Lebanon will suffer. But you know, folks, terrorist organizations are not super considerate of civilians. Just look at what’s going on in Gaza. The “humanitarian” zone has been used time and time again by terrorists to hide weapons and shoot rockets at Israel, necessitating further displacements of refugees. A little after midnight, the IDF spokesman in Arabic issued a warning to the Gazans to evacuate Beit Hanoun, Sheikh Zayed and Almanshiya in the northern Gaza Strip following the firing of rockets yesterday evening from the north of the Gaza Strip towards Ashkelon.

But the Gazans, unlike at the beginning when they were quick to shuffle off to safer pastures after such warnings, seem blasé. According to Abu Ali Express, there haven’t been photos and videos of population evacuations. Abu Ali thinks it’s because the warnings aren’t followed by significant military action, and so the “cry wolf” effect has settled in. I’m sure the IDF is between a rock and a hard place. If the Gazans stay put, the IDF is left with the option of firing at terrorists embedded among civilians, causing major civilian deaths and still another international outcry. If the IDF doesn’t attack, it loses credibility, and allows the enemy to fire rockets at our cities. Not a simple situation.

The Lebanese journalist, Dima Sadek, listed Israel’s accomplishments as a way of mocking Nasrallah’s speech about “keeping Israel from winning.” Dima writes: “… killing 50,000 [exaggeration] Gazans, killing Muhammad Deif, killing Haniyeh and the most important military commander in Hezbollah, attacking Tehran, attacking Dahieh and causing the evacuation of the residents of southern Lebanon…?”

Gee when you put it that way…

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