Two-thirds of the US's E-3 command and control aircraft have been sent to the region, which is strategic military equipment that would not be required for public relations purposes and indicates serious military intentions beyond mere posturing.

Trita Parsi from the Quincy Institute argues that most information about Iran reaching Trump comes from Netanyahu, who has convinced Trump that Iran is much weaker than it actually is, both nuclearly and economically, based on recent massive demonstrations showing regime weakness.

Trump tweeted in November 2013 that he predicted President Obama would attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly and lack of skills, suggesting Trump views military strikes as response to failed negotiation.

Trump claimed in his State of the Union that Iran was about to develop ballistic missiles that could hit the United States, but the Defense Intelligence Agency's own assessment says that's not true, suggesting Trump may be fabricating imminent threat claims to justify strikes.

Supreme Leader Khamenei, 86 years old, is a true believer in the Iranian nation-state and sacred resistance who would not flee with his wealth like others might, representing the absolute linchpin of the regime that has run Iran since 1989 and kept the Islamic Republic in place.

Below the Supreme Leader in Iran's power structure are the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) which controls both the economy and the politics, a Basij militia set up throughout all villages and towns, and the military.

At some point, there must be a return to a serious grown-up political process involving major world powers engaged in putting in hours and effort to try to get people to coexist, otherwise the conflict goes in circles indefinitely.

Early Saturday morning, Hamas fired approximately 5,000 rockets (Israelis claim 2,500) from Gaza into Israel, followed about an hour later by fighters breaking through the barriers and fences separating Gaza from Israel—some arriving by boat, one by hang glider—with bulldozers destroying the Erez Crossing, and simultaneously driving 20-30 kilometers into Israel to launch terrorist attacks.

Palestinians from the Palestinian Authority point of view acknowledge there has been a terrorist attack and do not condone the killing of civilians; however, they argue that Gaza is experienced as a prison camp with no ability for people to go in and out, a humanitarian disaster lacking basic supplies, and that the root of the violence is Israeli occupation involving breaking Palestinian territory into tiny enclaves with checkpoints and walls that Palestinians describe as an apartheid state denying them full civil and democratic rights.

The Israeli perspective includes claims that Hamas had a founding charter dedicated to the complete elimination of the state of Israel, that Iran is committed to Israel's elimination, that the 1967 and Yom Kippur Wars were designed to wipe Israel off the map, and that Israel feels marginalized and attacked at UN forums while other countries like China, Zimbabwe, and Cuba face less criticism, leading Israelis to view their security threats as existential.

Israelis emphasize that the Israeli Army warns civilians before attacking buildings, and that some argue the territory taken in 1967 is essential for protecting the state of Israel, citing the Golan Heights as artillery positions from which Syrians fired rockets, justifying Israel's need to control territory for realistic defense against Palestinian threats.

After the Yom Kippur War, there was little rejoicing in Israel; the failure to foresee the attack was Israel's greatest intelligence failure, with one analyst blaming arrogance, lack of understanding of abundant intelligence, and disregard for the enemy, while military historian John Hughes Wilson described it as confusing political aspirations with hard facts, leading Israel to vow never to make the same mistakes again—yet the same pattern is repeating with the recent Hamas attacks.

Jewish people around the world are experiencing fear, anxiety, and dread about what is happening, not only because of the horror in Israel but also because of related incidents like an Egyptian policeman opening fire and killing two Israeli tourists after the attacks.

Focus on the Middle East and Israel-Palestine question has been negligible from a time when it used to be one of the most dominant issues of global debate, representing a major shift in international attention and prioritization.

The Oslo play by J.T. Rogers provides a dramatic exploration of the Oslo Accords peace negotiations and is worth reading both as a play and in book form for understanding the complexity and human dynamics of the negotiation process.

Hamas is a terrorist organization that has carried out indiscriminate suicide bomb attacks since the mid-1990s with an explicit policy of targeting civilians, and is recognized as a terrorist organization by the EU, US, UK (since 2022), and Australia (since 2023), though much of the rest of the world treats Hamas as a legitimate government because they are the elected government in Gaza.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth with 2 million people in a strip roughly 25 miles long and very narrow, creating horrendous conditions for civilians if Israel launches a ground offensive.