Israel Prepares For Invasion & Radio Blasts Travel 8 Billion Years
October 23, 2023
Bracing For More Bloodshed
On Saturday, residents of northern Gaza received a message from Israel, dropped from the sky on red leaflets and sent electronically to those with operating cell phones. “Urgent warning!” it read. “To the residents of Gaza: your presence to the North of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk. Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the North of the Gaza Strip to the South of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization.”
The message comes after two weeks of Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip, which has seen the densely-populated area deprived of food, electricity, and water. So far, over 4,300 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli strikes on the area. Israel has announced that its bombardment of Gaza will only get worse as it readies its planned ground invasion. International aid organizations and the U.N. have warned that the ground invasion will lead to a full-on catastrophe in Gaza (as if the situation in the enclave isn’t bad enough already). Even the U.S., one of Israel’s closest allies, has warned the IDF to delay the invasion and committed to ensuring that civilians in Gaza will continue to have access to food, water, and medical care.
Speaking of the U.S., the issue of supporting the IDF has become a bipartisan issue in Washington. On Sunday, Senate Republican Mitch McConnell threw his weight behind the Biden administration’s $106 billion proposal to send aid to both Israel and Ukraine. The package would send $14 billion to Israel and $60 billion to Ukraine, with the rest being spent on the U.S.-Mexico border, humanitarian aid, and other areas. Meanwhile, the U.S. has decided to redirect an aircraft carrier on its way to the Mediterranean (to support Israel) to the Middle East in response to a spate of attacks on U.S. facilities in the area. More air defense systems and troops are being prepared for deployment in the Middle East as Washington prepares for the outbreak of a wider conflict, which might occur in response to Israel’s planned invasion of Gaza.
Want To Know More?
- Defense Secretary Austin says US is ‘concerned about potential escalation’ in Middle East (CNN)
- Antony Blinken: Israel and Gaza cannot return to ‘status quo’ (Politico)
- Blast, ambulances heard near Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, witnesses say (Reuters)
- Israel expands evacuations as Lebanon border clashes escalate (Reuters)
- Iran warns Israel to stop war in Gaza or region will ‘go out of control’ (BBC)
- Antony Blinken ‘hopeful’ more hostages will be released but skeptical of Hamas (NBC)
Some Good News
- Medical breakthrough cures 5-year-old New Jersey boy of sickle cell anemia (CBS)
- Man, 94, finds father’s beloved classic car on auction site (BBC)
Beijing Plays Bumper Boats
- On Sunday, China and the Philippines got into two separate fights in the South China Sea. China and the U.S.-backed Philippines have been clashing with increasing frequency over territorial disputes in the sea, with most of the conflicts basically consisting of boat-based games of chicken.
- In the first territorial clash, the Philippines said that a Chinese Coast Guard ship executed “dangerous blocking maneuvers,” blocking a Philippine boat carrying supplies troops stationed on a disputed shoal. China called the incident a “minor collision,” claiming that the Philippine vessel was trespassing in Chinese waters.
- In the second incident, Manila said that a different Chinese ship collided with a different Philippine vessel – which was trying to carry out the same resupply mission. Beijing said that the Philippine Coast Guard ship hit in the second incident had “purposely provoked trouble and reversed course” before colliding with a Chinese fishing vessel.
Argentina’s Electoral Circus Act
- Argentina, according to one Latin American policy expert, “is in for a wild ride.” On Sunday, the country’s polls opened for voting in a highly-contested presidential election. Javier Milei, Argentina’s own Donald Trump equivalent and a self-described anarcho-capitalist, will take on mainstream right-wing candidate Former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and center-left Economy Minister Sergio Massa in the election.
- Heading into Sunday, Milei led pre-election polls, though he wasn’t projected to earn enough votes to avoid a runoff election in November. No matter what happens, though, some Argentinians are bracing for chaos. The country’s already-weak economy, a central issue throughout the election cycle, might experience even more turmoil if the sitting government devalues the Argentinian peso following Sunday’s vote – the day after the presidential primaries, it devalued the peso by nearly 20%, accelerating its depreciation.
Additional World News
- Iranian teenager ‘brain dead’ weeks after subway incident, state media reports (NBC)
- CEO of Europe’s largest tech conference resigns over Israel-Hamas comments (Politico)
- As Europe applauds Poland’s election results, civil rights groups prepare to fight (NPR)
- Norma makes landfall near Mexico’s Los Cabos resorts (CBS)
- Australia PM to visit China, with progress on wine, wind tower disputes (Reuters)
- Rightwing SVP expected to make gains in Swiss federal elections (Guardian)
- Iran sentences 2 journalists for allegedly collaborating with US. Both covered Mahsa Amini’s death (ABC)
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” – Henry Van Dyke
McCarthy Casts His Vote
- The race for Speaker of the House remains a toss-up, but former (A.K.A. ousted) Speaker Kevin McCarthy has chosen his horse in the race – “I’m supporting Tom Emmer,” he said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday. It’s been two weeks since McCarthy was removed from office and, so far, Representative Jim Jordan is the only candidate to have made it to a vote (he lost three times, and each vote was worse than the last).
- “I’m still a member of Congress, and I’m going to lead in any capacity to protect America. I’m going to work to secure our border. I’m going to work to stop the inflation. I’m going to make sure war does not break out in Israel, and that Israel has every resource they need to defend themselves. But most importantly, I’m going to press this administration,” McCarthy said when asked if he wanted to put his name in the ring again.
Want To Know More?
- House Republicans push unity ‘pledge’ to guarantee a speaker (Politico)
- Meet the Republicans Running for House Speaker (NYT, $)
- GOP speaker fight is ‘probably one of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen’: McCaul (ABC)
Trump Runs A Very Leaky Ship, Apparently
- Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, a key prosecution witness in former President Trump’s classified documents case, said that when Trump was president he shared insider details about his phone calls with world leaders. The New York Times and “60 Minutes Australia” released a report yesterday with recordings of Pratt recounting his conversations with Trump during his time as a member at the Mar-a-Lago golf club.
- “It hadn’t even been on the news yet, and he said, ‘I just bombed Iraq today,’” Pratt said in one recording. He also said that Trump told him about a December 2019 call with Iraqi President Barham Salih, during which Trump said, “The president of Iraq called me up and said, ‘You just leveled my city. … I said to him, ‘OK, what are you going to do about it?’” Trump reminded the NYT that Pratt is “from a friendly country in Australia, one of our great allies,” though he didn’t deny the conversations.
Additional USA Reads
- Police are searching for motive in the death of the Detroit synagogue leader who was found with multiple stab wounds (CNN)
- US crime statistics from FBI should be viewed with caution, experts warn (Guardian)
- Maryland police find vehicle linked to suspect in fatal shooting of judge (CNN)
- Nashville police chief’s son is suspect in shooting of two officers outside store (Guardian)
- Judge temporarily halts Trump’s limited gag order in federal election interference case (ABC)
- Chicago religious leaders urge peace after killing of six-year-old Muslim boy (Guardian)
A Radio Blast From A Galaxy Far, Far Away
- Last year, the Earth was hit by a fast-moving, mysterious blast of radio waves that journeyed eight billion years to hit the planet. Last week, researchers published a study in the journal Science examining that blast, named FRB 20220610A (“FRB” is short for “fast radio burst”).
- According to that study, the blast bathed the Earth in the equivalent of 30 years’ worth of our Sun’s energetic emissions. Using an array of radio telescopes, scientists were able to track the FRB back to a small group of merging galaxies far, far away. There, they theorize, the blast was created by the formation of new stars.
- Studying FRBs isn’t just staring at cool space waves, though. “If we count up the amount of normal matter in the Universe — the atoms that we are all made of — we find that more than half of what should be there today is missing,” said one of the study’s co-authors. “Fast radio bursts sense this ionised material,” she added. “Even in space that is nearly perfectly empty they can ‘see’ all the electrons, and that allows us to measure how much stuff is between the galaxies,” allowing researchers to learn more about one of the universe’s longest and biggest mysteries.
Additional Reads
- Convicted killer known as the Zombie Hunter says life on death row is cold, food is “not great” (CBS)
- Why some members of Black sororities and fraternities don’t want you to wear their letters (CNN)
- The IRS will soon set new tax brackets for 2024. Here’s what that means for your money. (CBS)
- India conducts space flight test ahead of planned mission to take astronauts into space in 2025 (Politico)
- Why Olive Oil Is So Expensive Right Now (NYT, $)
- Inside a TikTok Talent Factory for Misfit Stars (Wired, $)
- Michigan State University ‘deeply sorry’ for Hitler image displayed on video boards before football game (NBC)