Gold, oil, and U.S. bonds are rallying this morning on growing fears of what could transpire across the Middle East and world this weekend as a harbinger for WW3 escalation on a biblical scale. If you’re not familiar with what actually transpired last weekend, consider reading “Revisited: JERUSALEM! The Hamas in the Box Effect” published (Twitter thread) on Oct. 8. Today, it was announced that Israel has launched an infiltration of the Gaza Strip with commando units on the ground into a highly lethal urban warfare environment to rescue multinational hostages and extinguish Hamas. Late last night, Israel provided a warning to more than one million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate within 24 hours to the southern half of Gaza. For the United States, the latest tally of souls murdered by Hamas is 27, and more than a dozen are missing or held hostage in the dark corners of Gaza or underground tunnels.

Evacuation Map via New York Times

“Pride goeth before destruction, and haughty spirit before a fall.” – Proverbs 16:18, KJV

 

“They sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.” – 1 Samuel 5:11, KJV

 

The Split In Israel And The War Of Al-Aqsa… “If Israel makes, as announced, a ground attack on Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon is likely to attack Israel. The U.S. has allegedly let Syria know (via France) that Damascus, and President Assad personally, would be attacked if that were to happen. This is a miscalculation. It is far from certain that Assad, or even Iran, has the means to hold Hezbollah back. A U.S. attack on the government of Syria would bring Russia into the war. Iran would also respond which is exactly what some of the neocons want. The war could easily escalate further from there.” – Moon of Alabama, Oct. 13, 2023

Do not lose sight of NATO’s ongoing proxy war with Russia due to legacy media diverting its war reporting away from Ukraine vs. Putin. Zelensky is panicking after his military was enervated, and Russia’s war machine is primed for an offensive push toward the geographic boundary of the Dnieper River. The collective West is shifting attention and resources away from a corrupt Ukraine and the “as long as it takes” narrative of support. A mere week after Jean-Claude Juncker declared that Ukraine is not ready for E.U. membership (or NATO) because it’s “corrupt at all levels of society,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby stated that Ukraine “aid won’t be indefinite” in light of Hamas having massacred innocent civilians in southern Israel that provoked another battlefield for the West.

“Hamas’s premodern violations of all human norms have relieved most nations of any pretense of having to support it—at least for now. ‘Necklacing’ and ‘baby burning’ were its most recent contributions to its standard terrorist repertoire of hostage-taking, raping, beheading, and executions. Most people will now hope Hamas gets what it deserves, while elites offer empty platitudes about ‘ending the cycle of violence’ and ‘proportionality.’” – Victor Davis Hanson, Oct. 12

 

All This and World War, Too… “It is less than a week since the skies over the Negev Desert filled with something eerily like the flying monkeys of Oz upgraded to Hamas Road Warriors in motorized paragliders, kicking off that third world war we have been hearing about all our lives, and not at all the way we expected either, which was more Dr. Strangelove style, with the mushroom clouds billowing everywhere — though, who knows, it might come to that, too, before long. This new catastrophe, quickly globalizing, makes the War in Ukraine seem as comfortable as an old sweater. For now, the question of intel failures must be put aside. There will be no official inquiries while US carrier fleets sail into position, and Hezbollah does a war dance on the northern frontier with Syria, and the Israelis struggle to strategize an extremely sticky hostage predicament, even as their air force blows up whole blocks of Gaza City. Meanwhile, former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal has called for a worldwide jihad this very day, Friday the 13th, as it happens, by which he means disruption within the entity known as Western Civ, where Jihad’s most dogged enemies’ dwell.” – Howard Kunstler, Oct. 13

Australia, the E.U., Israel, Japan, the U.K., the U.S., and others have officially declared Hamas as a terrorist organization. It was reported early today that General Esmail Ghaani, head of the infamous Quds unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRG), is being implicated in the planning and execution of Hamas’ invasion into southern Israel last weekend following numerous secret meetings that were held with Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It’s no secret that Hezbollah is being financed and provided weapons by Iran. Iran recently deployed tanks on the Iraq border and gave Hezbollah a green light to engage with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in northern Israel if Gaza is invaded by IDF troops. The U.S. and Qatar have also refrozen $6 billion in assets for humanitarian use that were traded with Iran for a prisoner release deal.

Here is a brief list of military moves and reactions by nations with a vested interest in the Middle East thus far:

• Many countries initiated the evacuation of citizens out of Israel’s region
• There’s the potential for five battlefield fronts
• Russia broadcasted: “everyone get out of Israel”
• The death toll of Russian nationals in Israel is growing
• Israel bombed runways in Syria’s Damascus and Aleppo airports
• Protests and violence are breaking out worldwide in support of Hamas
• An Israeli envoy was repeatedly stabbed in Beijing near the embassy
• Violence is escalating in East Jerusalem and the West Bank
• Lebanon’s Hezbollah is striking northern Israel and killed IDF soldiers
• The entry of Syria and Iran into the war is likely
• Tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in central Baghdad for Hamas
• Thousands of Jordanians are at Israel’s borders threatening to join Hamas
• Egypt rejected a safe corridor and camps for Gaza refugees in Sinai
• Saudi Arabia put U.S.-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice
• U.S. Special Operations Forces arrived in Israel w/CIA operatives
• The U.S. deployed a 101st Airborne Division to Jordan’s border
• The USS. Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group is off Israel’s coast
• The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group is enroute
• The U.S. House is in chaos and unable to pass war spending bills
• U.S. cities are on a terrorism alert for today’s “day of rage” espoused by Hamas

I recommend that readers head over to Judge Napolitano’s YouTube channel for a roundtable discussion on the Ukraine and Israel war that’s scheduled for 4pm EST today.

Intel Round Table w/Larry Johnson & Ray McGovern

Plan Your Trade, Trade Your Plan

TraderStef on Twitter, Gettr / Website: TraderStef.com

Headline Art: Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem – Francesco Hayez