The world changed saturday morning when Hamas attacked Israel. The Middle East is too important and influential in world affairs for it not to be so. Every nation is affected.

One initial question is whether the Republican House of Representatives can change also. The U.S. war mentality is decidedly up front. Guns do not have to go off on U.S. soil in today’s climate for such to be so. The attack on Israel is far more important and delicate than the one on Ukraine.

I worry the House Republicans will not be able to handle it. Republicans and Democrats must be on the same side where acute war threatening issues are at hand. An actual attack on the U.S. is not the time any more. The time is NOW for team play.

Republican reaction thus far has sucked. They are playing the blame game instead of standing together. I watched two Republican Congressman throw the blame ball at Biden’s head with the Iran fungible issue. They were adamant. They had a new word, a toy, to play with. Fungible. I wonder if either had ever heard of the word before saturday.

The Republicans need a Speaker who understands cooperation as opposed to opposition when it comes to today’s military/war issues.

Two U.S. Congress members were in Israel saturday when the attack occurred. Both Democrats, not that such matters. If they were Republicans, their reactions would have been the same.

New York Rep. Dan Goldman was there with his wife and children for a family bar mitzvah. They were scared. Sat out the attack in a stairwell. All have returned safely to the U.S.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker was jogging when the bombs began falling. He was in Israel on an economic mission re the Abraham Accord. He sat out the attack in a stairwell. He and his staff have returned safely home also.

Both men and those with them feared what was occurring. Thought the attack horrific.

Seven hundred Israeli and visitors dead. Four hundred Hamas persons. The numbers on both sides will rise dramatically.

Netanyahu promises retribution on a massive scale. I listened to an Israeli Lt. Colonel on TV yesterday. He was inflamed. He viewed the attack as Israel’s Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Assured retribution big time.

I could not help but agree. At least 100 hostages have been taken. Among them some Americans. Mostly Israeli women, children, the elderly and disabled. Brutality treated as taken. Videos support the meanness of the event. Rapes reported.

Netanyahu promises “mighty revenge.” I am quick to agree. However, I worry that Netanyahu has spoken them. He is in trouble. Unpopular with Israelis prior to the attack. Under indictment. I fear he will use the “war” to save his ass. Who was it that said…..You go to war with the men you have.

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Hebrews 10-30. And “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself,” Leviticus 18:19, do not apply. Both statements have been determined to be inapplicable when a nation has been offended such as Hamas as done to Israel or Japan to the U.S. with Pearl Harbor. 

I agree Hamas must pay. Evil in such circumstances must be returned with evil. An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, situation.

So let us not cry out too much, too hard, when Israel lays the hammer on Hamas.

Words of wisdom for today. Found in Kareem Abdu-Jabbar’s blog this date.  Kareem drew on Pogo’s words in Walt Kelley’s poster for Earth Day 1970, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Kareem’s comment: “We have met the enemy and he is us. How else do you explain a rapist and fraud who wanted to suspend the U.S. Constitution being the front-runner for President?”

Enjoy your day! A thoughtful one.