Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: The entire world is at risk, including Muslims, Jews, Christians, and people of every faith and background. Israel is entering its biggest and most difficult war since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, with Hamas causing brutal bloodbaths and Hezbollah terrorists ready to infiltrate northern Israel. Russia has been battling Ukraine for the last 20 months, holding 20% of the country while pulverizing the rest with artillery and drones. The US has moved two aircraft carrier groups into the Mediterranean and shot down missiles in the Red Sea from Yemen, while Iraq and Syria are poised to join the fight. The UN condemns Israel for self-defense, while Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad target civilian population centers. The world is on the moral and murderous brink, with weapons of mass destruction to make it happen deadly fast. The world is on the brink of a prelude to World War III, but let's hope and pray that instead it is the coming of Mashiach.

1. 10/22/23, 8:26 AM Prelude to World War III | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
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THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
Leadership With Heart
Prelude to World War III
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Credit Photo: Geralt via https://pixabay.com/illustrations/clock-the-eleventh-hour-time-7084580/
We have never come closer to World War III. Amidst the most evil and brutal
bloodbath by Hamas of 1,400 Israelis and another 200+ taken hostage into Gaza,
Israel is entering its biggest and most difficult war since the surprise attack of
the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Further, northern Israel is ready to explode, with
Hezbollah terrorists ready to infiltrate and 150,000 rockets poised to fly into
Israel’s population centers and critical infrastructure.
Meanwhile, for the last 20 months, Russia has been battling it out in Ukraine,
holding 20% of the country while pulverizing the rest with artillery and drones
amidst threats of nuclear weapons and potentially seeking further conquest into
the heart of Europe. Moreover, Russia is tightening up on the latest “axis of evil”
between itself, China, North Korea, and Iran.
The U.S. has moved two aircraft carrier groups into the Mediterranean and shot
down missiles in the Red Sea from Yemen this week, presumably on the way to
Israel, while Iraq and Syria are poised to get into the fight as well. Around the
world, tens of thousands of Hamas supporters are marching, seemingly looking

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for any excuse to propagate Israel and Jewish hatred and escalate to attacking
synagogues, harassing Jewish students on campuses, and even perhaps
perpetrating 19th-century pogroms in our modern-day metropolises. Already,
yesterday, a Detroit synagogue president was found stabbed to death outside
her home.
Posters of women and children hostages who were taken by Hamas are being
pulled down from the streets, while Hitler is being resurrected as the “ultimate
problem solver.” Russia has pulled out of the last remaining nuclear treaty with
the West and is moving to restart nuclear weapons testing. China is pouring
billions into its military as it is itching to attack Taiwan and take control of the
South China Sea. North Korea and Iran are advancing their nuclear weapons and
missile delivery capabilities and threatening the West. Many who are anti-Israel
are celebrating the invasion of south Israel and the murderous rampage by
Hamas terrorists, while Iran’s parliament is chanting “Death to Israel” as it has
prior chanted “Death to America.”
In Hamas’s attack on Israel, there are children beheaded, old people burned
alive, women raped and tortured, children murdered in front of parents, and
parents executed in front of children—and these are obscenely viewed as
somehow morally acceptable to many who sing along with the Palestinians for
Israel’s genocidal extinction, “From the river to the sea.”
The morally corrupt United Nations and their “Human Rights” Council, which
routinely practice human wrongs (as Alan Dershowitz has astutely pointed out),
seek to condemn Israel for virtually any act of self-defense or separation from
the terrorists, while Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad target civilian
population centers and hide behind human shields. Elsewhere in our mad world,
Russia invades and occupies portions of Ukraine, Georgia, and all of Chechnya;
China holds a million Uyghurs in “reeducation” camps;” and for a decade, under
the demagogue Bashar al-Assad, about 600,000 people have been brutally
murdered in Syria’s one-sided “civil war.” Aside from an abundance of

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condemnations and resolutions of tiny Israel, all we can hear from the unjust
U.N. against the rest of the world is nothing but crickets.
In the meantime, political or other opponents are poisoned, thrown off
balconies, imprisoned on trumped-up charges, or otherwise disposed of in
communist and Islamist countries, and their people are held hostage to their
government’s every maniacal whim and routine oppression. Sanctions and
containment of evil regimes seeking nuclear weapons have completely failed,
while our democracies seek continued appeasement and the release of billions
of dollars in cash to our enemies.
Russia is doubling its military budget, and China’s defense budget is seen as
almost on par with the United States. After the U.S.’s withdrawal, Iraq is now
under the influence of the megalomaniac Ayatollah of Iran, and Afghanistan has
been lost to the Taliban. In the meantime, Europe continues to undercut its
target 2% defense allocation, instead relying on Big Brother America to come to
their aid through NATO.
The space race is heating up with who will colonize Mars first, while the
militarization of space is not far behind with the establishment of the U.S. Space
Force, just the latest incarnation of what is to come. In the meantime, Russia
and China can now blow up our satellites with “killer” missiles and launch
hypersonic missiles at us before we know what hit us.

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As the terrorists, anarchists, and some on the alt-left march and overturn our
cities to outbursts of “Allah Akbar,” “Intifada,” and “Jihad” amidst the burning of
and spitting on Israeli and U.S. flags, the biased media, looking for their next
splash headline, thrills to falsely blame Israel for the Gaza hospital bombing.
Similarly, despite the Palestinians’ repeated refusal to accept generous offers of
peace, the media continues to report on Israel’s “occupation” and “apartheid,”
including in Gaza, where Israel unilaterally withdrew more than 18 years ago
and in return has suffered relentless Hamas missile barrages, attack tunnels,
abductions, and sadistic killings.
The world is on the moral and murderous brink, and there are weapons of mass
destruction to make it happen deadly fast. One spark can ignite the whole
colossal, flammable mess, and with it, the doomsday we all fear but suspect
could be coming soon. Let us hope and pray that this is the prelude not to World
War III, but rather to the coming of Mashiach.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
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