GNITN – Special Edition One Hundred Eighty Four

Israel At War – Day 12
The Truth Comes Out

The More You Know

Yesterday at this time it was universally reported that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza killing 500 people. I told you that Israel said it was a failed rocket launch by Hamas and they would prove it. I also told you that a Google search only brought up reports the Israel was to blame. Low and behold, a day later we now know the truth. In a rush to be first, but not be right media outlets ran with what Hamas told them rather than wait until Israel weighed in. Here is as good of a Mea culpa as you will get from politico.com (see https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/17/deadliest-israeli-airstrike-gaza-hamas-00122011)

A massive blast rocked a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter Tuesday, killing hundreds of people, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military said the hospital was hit by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants.

The article goes on to note this:

The (Hamas) health ministry said at least 500 people had been killed. Video that The Associated Press confirmed was from the hospital showed fire engulfing the building and the hospital’s grounds strewn with torn bodies, many of them young children. Around them in the grass were blankets, school backpacks and other belongings.

Fact Checkers Weigh In

Those pesky fact checkers told another story about the video in this article from reuters.com (see https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/video-missile-strike-near-gaza-hospital-predates-october-2023-war-2023-10-18/) :

A video of a missile launch captured in Gaza that dates to at least August 2022 has been falsely shared as footage showing a missile that struck Gaza’s Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital in October 2023.

The Palestinian Authority said an Israeli air strike on Oct. 17 killed hundreds of people at the Gaza hospital, while Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.

“Live footage of the moment Gaza hospital was bombed by Hamas own misfired rocket,” reads an Oct. 17 post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, sharing a nighttime video of a flare or missile redirecting to the ground shortly after rising into the sky.

The clip was also shared on Facebook.

The video was filmed in Gaza, but it predates the air strike in 2023. It was uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 7, 2022, with a description referencing a 2022 incident during a brief conflict between Hamas and Israel.

A clearer view of the location in the clip can be seen in an Al Jazeera video uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 8, 2022. The Municipality of Gaza complex and the Adel building can be seen in both the videos and match Google Street View images as well.

The hospital that was hit on Oct. 17, 2023, is located around 400 meters away from the municipality complex.

And we have further information that Hamas was lying about this from an unlikely source.

United States Military Agrees With Israel

In this report from CNN.com we read this about that Gaza hospital bombing:

The US government currently believes that Israel “is not responsible” for the blast at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, according to the National Security Council, following President Joe Biden’s comments that a Palestinian militant group was behind the strike.

A spokesperson for the NSC, Adrienne Watson, said the assessment is based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open-source information.

“While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open-source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” Watson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Officials told CNN separately that the initial evidence gathered by the US intelligence community suggests that the hospital strike came from a rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.

This information was echoed by Joe Biden himself in an interview along aside Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu in the quote from forbes.com (see https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/10/18/biden-backs-israels-claim-it-did-not-strike-gaza-hospital-after-palestinian-officials-blamed-israeli-airstrike-for-killing-hundreds/?sh=67af0ac93697) :

Biden told reporters on Wednesday that Defense Department data gave him confidence the explosion was not the result of an Israeli airstrike, and told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a visit to Israel that the strike appeared to have been launched by “the other team, not you.”

Cancelled Meetings

In spite of all this information, leaders from Palestine, Jordan. And Egypt all cancelled their meeting with Biden, citing the attack came from Israel instead. According to a report from The Times Of Israel Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas boycotted the meeting with Biden (see: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/abbas-said-to-cancel-meeting-with-biden-tomorrow-after-gaza-hospital-blast/) :

A senior Palestinian official says Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has canceled his participation in a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with US President Joe Biden and other Mideast leaders.

Abbas was scheduled to join Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at a summit in Amman, Jordan, where they were set to discuss the latest Israel-Hamas war with Biden.

But the senior official says Abbas is withdrawing to protest an alleged Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza that Hamas health officials say has killed more than 500 people.

Israel, for its part unequivocally denied they bombed the hospital. Going back to The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-says-islamic-jihad-rocket-misfire-caused-gaza-hospital-blast/) we read these responses to the bombing after the new evidence exonerating Israel surfaced:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement in which he said: “So the whole world knows: The barbaric terrorists in Gaza are the ones who attacked the Gaza hospital, not the IDF.

“Those who cruelly murdered our children murder their children as well.”

President Isaac Herzog called accusations that Israel had struck the hospital “a blood libel.”

“An Islamic Jihad missile has killed many Palestinians at a Gazan hospital — a place where lives should be saved,” Herzog tweeted.

“Shame on the media who swallow the lies of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — broadcasting a 21st-century blood libel around the globe. Shame on the vile terrorists in Gaza who willfully spill the blood of the innocent,” he wrote.

One thing we can agree on is to wait a little longer so information can be corroborated.

No One Or Nowhere Is Safe

Another call for “a day of rage” this time by Hezbollah based on the hospital bombing still based on what they say was Israel that did it. However, more concerning news it that violence could be seen across the globe as possible sleeper cells may target Israeli and maybe Americans in Turkey, where Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) advises its citizens living there to leave immediately over “heightened motivation of terrorist actors and lone assailants to target Israelis in various countries worldwide” as reported by Ynetnews.com (see https://www.ynetnews.com/travel/article/hjd0ni2b6) :

The NSC advises Israelis who have not yet left Turkey to exercise all recommended precautions (detailed on the National Security Council's website). They should avoid congregating and minimize their presence in public spaces, conceal any Israeli or Jewish symbols and refrain from visiting places identified as Jewish or with Israeli affiliations.

The statement further noted that following the Swords of Iron War against Hamas, there has been a significant escalation in terror threats against Jews and Israelis worldwide. Consequently, the NSC is updating the public on additional changes:

"In light of the evolving threat landscape, the National Security Council has also raised the travel advisory for Morocco to Level 2, advising heightened precautions.

"Additionally, the NSC reiterates its recommendation for the public to reconsider planned trips abroad at this time. It advises avoiding non-essential travel to countries that have a travel warning, with an emphasis on Arab countries and those bordering Iran (specifically highlighting Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan).

Israel is sending planes to evacuate it’s citizens from Turkey. However, bomb threats are popping up all over the world, more and more as terrorists are suspected of targeting Jews and Americans.

Fear Is Not An Option

I’m going to close this by letting you know that God is still in control and we are not given to a spirit of fear. And He is also more than able to keep us safe if we ask Him to no matter where we are. The same loving Father who kept Noah and his family safe during the flood, who spared Lot and his family from hell fire when Sodom and Gomorrah was judged, who kept Daniel alive in the lion’s den, and kept the three Hebrew boys from perishing in the burning furnace is the same one who watches over you. And we must also know that He is omniscient or all-knowing, omnipresent, or everywhere present, and omnipotent or all powerful. This means that He knows what you are going through or will go through, He is right there when you need Him, and He has more than enough power to protect and deliver you. And did I say He never sleeps:

He will never let me stumble, slip, or fall. For he is always watching, never sleeping. (Ps 121:4, TLB)

He will continue to protect Israel and you.