They say (ISIS) the Caliphate is on the rise in Iraq & Syria, not such bad news

The time might be approaching when the loss will be reversed

The middle east never ceases to amaze. The arab ISIS assassins gave a swift kick at Mosul and the whole rotten Iraqi edifice came crumbling down. General Petreaus' much vaunted military wonder at Falujah is shown to be the smoke and mirrors that it always was. ISIS now commands Falujah with it's own peculiar way of winning hearts and minds, through sheer terror and decapitation.

Years of American lives and US money are now as nothing. Obama ever the idiot is now readying the US to send in more money, support and eventually waste even more American lives in the service of Iran. Because Iraq is the fiefdom of Iran in the areas ruled by the shiah and far be it from Obama to let his new buddies in Iran take a pasting ( let's not worry about Obama. Whatever he touches turns to dust in the end, and he'll be gone soon in any case).

Iran can not afford to lose Iraq as it is the major supply route to Assad and to Hezbollah. And in any case Iran doesn't want ISIS on its border with Iraq so Iran will fight for Iraq with or without US help. But with trillions of dollars of debt, the US like every good gambler is happy to throw some more money away in the forlorn hope things will improve.

All this is as nothing to the Obama's national security team, unless he's simply ignoring their advice. In Obama's rush to destroy US credibility throughout the world, what better policy than to engender more Taliban style killings of US troops, sent to the battlefield and being virtually forbidden from opening fire in their defense. Which reminds me, Israeli troops are mighty sick of the same thing. And if you are a Jewish inhabitant of Judea and Samaria forget about ever using your gun. You will be arrested by Israeli police, your gun taken away, and no end of further proceedings taken against you.

This is Israel today where it's better to have a soldier hurt than for him to defend himself. David the Nahlai recently gained much support in Israel after his drawing his weapon was believed to have led to his punishment (It wasn't the reason in this case but IDF soldiers have had so much of this policy of 'havlagah' or 'restraint', as now a bad policy in the 1930's which led not to less attacks, but more and intensified ones against Jews. Orde Wingate changed the policy and the desperate situation of the kibbutzim with his offensive Night Squads. They lay in wait outside arab villages and when the terrorists emerged to shoot up and burn Jewish villages they were themselves destroyed. The British new it in the 1930's, the Jews won the 1948 war by defending themselves actively, but now Jewish soldiers need to be social workers protecting the interests of their enemies ).

So okay lets get to Chief of Staff Gantz. Now you would expect him to have a certain relief that his neighbours to the north and east are somewhat embroiled at the moment. Not a chance:

Gantz says conflict in Syria could continue for more than a decade; warns that both Hezbollah and World Jihad gaining strength in Syria.

Israeli generals as their politicians have little strategic horizon, so Gantz of course doesn't understand that the first part of his sentence necessarily contradicts the latter half. If the war goes on for a decade neither Hezbollah, Iran, the sunni al Qaida gangs or anyone else will be in much position to take on Israel. And in that time Israel will have relative peace, as long as it keeps its defense posture secure.

The present Israeli Defense Minister is thankfully on the ball unlike effete Barak and that labor union guy before him. Whereas Barak during the second intifada and afterwards, was nonchalant about Jews being slaughtered by suicide bombers, for Sderot and the south of Israel to get hammered year after year, Ya'alon made it clear the rules have changed. 

So the rockets still come but not every shabbat morning in time for synagogue service and shabbat lunch, not every day when the kids are walking to and from school. Yes the terrorists know Israel's timetable exactly and used to time the rockets accordingly. Sometimes that helped locate and destroy the rocket squads . Things are now very much better in the south. Ya'alon understands that in this region, the only way you get peace is not by smiling and giving away your silver, but by carrying a cosh and grimacing at your enemy.

And Ya'alon fits in with the Israeli street now. Apart from the usual feeble minds which along with Nobel prizes, Jews seem to be endowed with in larger numbers than is their fair share, Israelis understand that to show weakness to arabs, to free murderers for nothing, as 'gestures', is to invite further attack.

And that attack has come with the kidnapping of the yeshivah students. May God grant them a quick and safe return. Of course the lower level attacks nowadays are counted in the hundreds each month, and collated in the monthly Low IntensityConflict Report.

Until Israel was tested in the 1^st Intifada and found wanting, there were virtually no attacks on Jews in Judea and Samaria. The fear of 1948 and 1967 was still in their minds. I know because I travelled all over the area during part of that time. Then the human rights era started and palestinians were allowed to attack Israeli soldiers for the benefit of the cameras on a daily basis. This undermined Israel's reputation for robustness with the arabs as regards deterrence, and with the rest of the world with regards Israel's respect of human rights. 

With all the cameras, the odd lapse by a soldier instantly got, and gets beamed around the world. Rather than be seen for what it is, a human rights respecting bastion, Israel is besmirched as an apartheid state with impunity, and there's the pallywood filming in abundance to 'prove' it.

Some time soon people will begin to wake up because the never ending violence coming out of arab countries is getting intense, it will be all but impossible even for the most misled to ignore the fact that Israel is not the problem, but the arab, and those darlings known as 'Balestinians' ( pronounced the arab way, as they can not pronounce the 'P'. Fancy that, a 'people' who can't even utter the name of their own country properly. Something fishy there to start with).

Our poor:

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said Monday that only a handful of states have more firepower than Hezbollah.

Okay the man has sleepless nights and does a magnificent job showing the al Nusrah types and shia on the borders that when they mortar Israel it's no longer forgive and forget like in the 1950's all the way up to 1967. If they mortar Israeli communities they get a Tammuz missile up the tochos about 5 minutes later, or less. And lo and behold, rather than this becoming a 'cycle of violence' as the european fools like to berate Israel, the Syrian border is mostly quiet. A little education goes a long way in this region.

But the General is clearly worried:

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center, Gantz said, "Show me four or five states with more firepower than Hezbollah: the US, China, Russia, Israel, France, the UK."

Okay, but they need all that firepower to protect Israel. Sorry? Come again? PROTECT Israel? Yes. 

Without Hezbollah and all its weaponry on the borders of Syria and Lebanon the sunni jihadis would be able to munch their sandwiches opposite the guard post at Rosh Haniqra whilst taking the odd pot shot, at point blank range.

The Chief worries too much about the firepower of Hezbollah and all the training it is getting in the field. Hezbollah are shi as in Iran, Assad's gang of Alawites and Maliki's domain of Baghdad. They are but a tenth the size of the sunni world, and if only they weren't such fanatical believers in the second coming of the Mahdi, they'd be buying their houses in Park Lane and Paris, just in case.

As it is they have to make do with renting houses in Thailand, Argentina and Bulgaria, but I digress, as that's for wholly different purposes.

Going from a stable shia ruled Syria two years ago that could put around a thousand tanks into Israel in a future war, Allah forbid, Iran now is fighting a war in Syria and now Iraq. Hezbollah has lost around 500 men so far in Syria. 

It's not so much fun to lose around 10% of your men on the battlefield (including top commanders of Hezbollah and the IRGC), and to know that there is not only no end in sight, but that there's so far not been so much as a peep from the Mahdi to say when he's gonna come and finish of those Jews and infidel apostate sunni muslims.

Of course Hezbollah is busy training up thousands of replacements, and so are the sunni jihadists, and so the party is getting bigger and better, and the carnage is set to increase exponentially.

And so:

Gantz said that Syria was falling apart "like a house of cards," and no outcome was good for Israel.

Sorry old boy. Just hold onto your hat, steady your nerve and get ready for the ride. You might even have just a little faith in the good Lord who has sent miracle upon miracle to the benefit of a state that otherwise could never have even got off the ground in 1948. If Christy Anastas can believe with her somewhat garbled understanding of our history that the survival of Israel is part of God's intention, for the world, “a Covenant“ , then you can surely afford to relax a little.

ISIS has been braying in the last few days about their caliphate coming to fruition, and however much Obama might move to help them, they are going to have a long hard slog, just as was predicted

here

The rock of Iran (and its ally Assad and proxy Hezbollah) has hit the hard sunni world, a world unforgiving of those they see as apostates threatening their very regimes.  A world full of extremist madrassas with students just longing to become involved in the fight against the shia 'heretics', as they see them.

The USA and Russia should sit this one out as it has little to do with them, and much to do with islam.
But the USA and Russia will not sit on the sidelines, more pity for the region, and also for Israel, although it might continue to be spared direct involvement.

Israel has been the wisest actor in the region, keeping its cool, growling menacingly and acting firmly when its interests are threatened or missiles, mortars or even bullets come over the border on the Golan Heights. Hamas learned last November that the rules have changed, that Israel will no longer tolerate its border communities being terrorized

The carnage we have seen this week is as nothing to what is about to happen, and whilst it does Amalek will be steadily weakened so that Israel will  hopefully have peace for a generation, quite a lot for us Jews.

All General Gantz needs to do is pick the time he bombs Iran's nuclear installations. God expects us to help ourselves to some extent, and Israel might need to clear Hezbollah from south Lebanon and allow its hostile population to escape the fighting, if Hezbollah does indeed attack Israel. If so, the most foolhardy thing to do would be to allow the shia civilian population back into the border after the inevitable ceasefire to start things up again.

If Israel is attacked, then in its defense it will be entitled to extend its borders up to the Litani river, an ancient border of Israel, and a natural defense line. The line could then be settled with Jews or any mix of loyal allies such as Christians and druze. Even Walid Jumblatt who humbled himself with such bad timing before Assad, the son of his father's murderer, even Jumblatt is very possibly asking himself if a lifetime's hostility to Israel has been a mistake. Sandwhched between sunni and shia violence, Jumblatt will himself begin to feel the heat before long.

We must learn from Russia, that if you attack us, we will not give you anything other than a bloody nose, and we'll also take back our ancient lands as compensation. A growing population means there will never be a problem settling and defending the new borders.

So things are not half bad for Israel with a strong economy, a strong army and an ever increasing and young population. All that is needed is a little faith.