Israel

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, FJK said:

I doubt Hamas has nuclear weapons (other than possibly dirty bombs), but asking if they would destroy themselves to destroy Israel is like asking if suicide bombers would be willing to kill themselves to kill Jews, it's a natter of the mentality of those people and they have shown they are quite willing accept their own deaths to bring death to the Jews.

If you don't know your enemy, how he thinks, you cannot defeat him (or even defend against him).

I don't remember, did Yasser Arafat strap on a  suicide bomber's vest and go show the way to go out to followers? Or did he lie in some comfort to then die at age 75 after a short illness. 

[Rick-Parker]

17 hours ago, other one said:

I would think if they did Israel would not exist.   They would sacrifice their whole population to rid the holy land of Israel and expect the entire population to go strait to heaven.

Starise made the claim and I was just questioning them as I know that Hamas does not posess nukes.

[Rick-Parker]

14 hours ago, Marathoner said:

No. I have no idea where that came from. 

Starise said it. I know they don't possess them.

[Marathoner]

2 hours ago, Starise said:

There are small nukes. Very small. I admit I'm not up to date on what they have or don't have. I only know who they ally with. 

No intention to add fear to the mix as believers should not live in a state of fear. God has the final victory.

I was watching some footage of the opposing soldiers marching in formation. They all had black on and what looked like AK-47s. I took note of the variety of foot wear which apparently wasn't  regulation like our military. This led me tho think they might not have a very substantial budget. Round up a kid, feed him propaganda, train him, give him a gun and a black suit, off they go.

They had hang gliders and motorcycles. Not a huge budget item either. They have missles and probably small artillery. Do they have aircraft like helicopters and jets? 

To have the, err, gumption to attack in the way they did suggests some sort of a follow through unless they are just throwing soldiers out there to die. They have to be aware of Israel's capabilities which are substantial for such a small country, and that payback is going to be a real a real biootch. Anything else suggests poor planning and maybe insanity.

You're referring to low-yield nuclear weapons, aka tactical nuclear weapons. They weren't "supposed" to exist, but the U.S. (the first to make them) and the USSR had tactical nukes in their inventory. The NATO facility in the German countryside where I was stationed contained tactical nuclear weapons. The place was a fortress.

Guard towers... three minefields... stationary microwave transmitters at ground-level capable of transmitting lethal pulses of microwaves... it was something else. During Desert Storm, these weapons were evacuated and the NATO facility was deactivated. 

Interesting side note: Russian forces were allowed to use the railhead my unit operated. They were evacuating their own inventory from former East Germany. We were under "no contact" orders. 

[FJK]

@Marathoner. Russia developed nuclear bomb rifle bullets out of Californium in 30 - 50 caliber ranges quite some time ago, I wonder if they have been made practical for battlefield use yet or if their development was abandoned?

(Californium has a critical mass of less than two grams.)

[Starise]

Unless someone has inside information I am not privy to, I think it's really hard to determine what they have exactly or what they have access to, or who might slide them a few goodies, know what I mean?

Something surely seems to have emboldened them. More weapons? Access to the big boys? Hard to tell. 

[warrior12]

58 minutes ago, Rick-Parker said:

Starise said it. I know they don't possess them.

Hamas is essentially controlled by Iran.  Iran has been trying to make nuclear things for years now.  Iran and Russia are allies and Russia need all the help they can get as they are being overwhelmed by Nato and western countries.  

Who knows, Russia may have passed on the technology to Iran as a backup in its war footing . For Hamas to make this move right now, they must have some kind of assurance as they know Israel would respond with terrifying vengence, I suppose. But it's all conjecture untill facts come alive.

[FJK]

2 minutes ago, Starise said:

Something surely seems to have emboldened them. More weapons? Access to the big boys?

Depletion of American resources in the Ukraine to the extent we will be unable to give much help to Israel for any extended time?

[FJK]

2 minutes ago, warrior12 said:

Iran and Russia are allies and Russia need all the help they can get as they are being overwhelmed by Nato and western countries.  

Maybe they are, no truth comes our of a war zone and none it told to the people of the countries involved by their governments.

[Starise]

1 minute ago, FJK said:

Depletion of American resources in the Ukraine to the extent we will be unable to give much help to Israel for any extended time?

We just sent our largest battle ship to the middle east. Not sure if we are going to just be a 'presence' there or active. Sending that ship says a lot I think.

Not sure how much help we will be since our leader tends to make crazy calls lately.