Cars are seen on fire following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. / Credit: Ahmad Gharabali/AFP via Getty Images
Israel is “at war,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday after a series of surprise rocket attacks and incursions from Hamas killed dozens and saw the country being invaded on a major holiday.
The attacks, which were carried out on the observance of Simchat Torah, arose early on Saturday morning and had reportedly killed at least 40 and wounded hundreds more by mid-Saturday morning.
Netanyahu said on Twitter on Saturday that “since this morning, the State of Israel has been at war” and that the country’s “first objective is to clear out the hostile forces that infiltrated our territory and restore the security and quiet to the communities that have been attacked.”
“The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an immense price from the enemy, within the Gaza Strip as well,” he continued. “The third objective is to reinforce other fronts so that nobody should mistakenly join this war.”
“We are at war,” the prime minister added. “In war, one needs to be level-headed. I call on all citizens of Israel to unite in order to achieve our highest goal – victory in the war.”
Dozens of videos flooded social media on Saturday appearing to show scenes of the missile attacks and the resulting chaos in Israel.
A dispatch from Israeli Defense Forces said that by early afternoon “dozens of IDF fighter jets struck Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip,” targeting “17 military compounds and 4 operational command centers” belonging to Hamas.
Smoke rises over Gaza City on Oct. 7, 2023 during Israeli air strike. Palestinian militants have begun a “war” against Israel, the country’s defense minister said on Oct.7 after a barrage of rockets were fired and fighters from the Palestinian enclave infiltrated Israel, a major escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, meanwhile, said in a statement that he was “closely monitoring developments” of the conflict.
“Our commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself remains unwavering, and I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this abhorrent attack on civilians,” Austin said.
“Over the coming days the Department of Defense will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism,” he added.
This is a developing story.
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Malawi is preparing for its first Eucharistic Congress. Other countries in Africa have hosted such congresses —Madagascar held its third National Eucharistic Congress Aug. 23-26, 2024, / Credit: EWTN
A newly-renovated classroom in the Holy Land. Less than 10% of classrooms administered by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem have received these kinds of upgrades, according to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. / Credit: … […]
In his homily on Dec. 14 during St. Austin’s Msongari 2025 Family Day celebration, Bishop David Kamau Ng’ang’a said that faith is best experienced as a community and not as an individual. It is in a community anchored in faith that weak Christians find a “backup” in their struggles, he said.
Bishop David Kamau Ng’ang’a during Family Day celebrations at St. Austin’s Msongari Parish. | Credit: St Austin’s Msongari Communications
“Faith must be lived within a community. When Jesus resurrected from the dead and appeared to the apostles, one of them was not there. And when he was told ‘We have seen the Lord,’ he did not believe,” Kamau said. “Thomas was not able to see the Lord because he was not in the community.”
He added: “The community helps you to experience the love of God,” and he appealed to those gathered to “join a group. You need a backup. Don’t stay alone. You may not survive.”
Members of the parish celebrated their 2025 Family Day under the theme “Anchored in Faith, Alive in Hope,” a celebration of 126 years of evangelization in the east African country.
In his homily, the bishop underlined the importance of strengthening the family at home, in Christian communities, and at the parish level. He challenged the parishioners to ask themselves if their own families are stable.
“How far are we building our own families back at home?” he asked, adding: “If you have no home where you come from, then you don’t have a home even here either.”
Family Day celebrations at St. Austin’s Msongari Parish. | Credit: St Austin’s Msongari Communications
The bishop said there are two families that every Christian should take as models: the family of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
“Love is what unites these two families,” he said, adding: “There was love, dialogue, and understanding in the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. That is why God entrusted his Son to that family.”
As part of the celebrations, St. Austin’s Msongari Parish also launched seven newly established small Christian communities. At the launch, Kamau challenged the parish to “do even better,” adding: “Without small Christian communities, it will be difficult to build the Church.”
Further underscoring the importance of the small communities, he said: “You come here only on Sundays. How about the other days? That is why we build small Christian communities where we live to come together and pray together.”
“We bring the life in our small Christian communities here in our Church. This is why small Christian communities are important,” he reiterated, adding that the aim should be to build the parish to become a home “such that even if you are rejected out there, where you are working, you feel welcome when you come here.”
The bishop also expressed his admiration of St. Austin’s Church, noting that the historic parish had planted seeds of faith across what later became the Archdiocese of Nairobi and the Machakos and Kitui dioceses.
He said: “I am always proud of St. Austin’s Parish and the Holy Ghost Fathers because the Holy Ghost Fathers brought faith to the Archdiocese of Nairobi. I am also talking about Machakos and Kitui. They too were started by Holy Ghost Fathers. The old missionaries are the ones who taught us, even in those days.”
Father Henry Omwoyo. | Credit: St Austin’s Msongari Communications
In his address at the Family and Fun Day celebrations, Father Henry Omwoyo, the pastor of St. Austin’s Msongari Parish, said the event was more than “just a date on the calendar” for the parish whose story began in 1899, when three missionaries of the Holy Ghost Fathers — Emile Augustin Allgeyer, Alain Hémery, and Blanchard Dillenseger — traveled inland from the Kenyan coast.
“We celebrate 126 years of God’s faithfulness, love, and grace poured out upon our parish family,” Omwoyo said. “From humble beginnings in 1899, when the pioneer Spiritan missionaries held the first Mass under the expansive African sky, to today, we stand as a vibrant, living community, deeply rooted in faith and alive in hope.”
He noted that for over a century, the parish has been a beacon of faith and unity in inland Kenya and has come to include communities such as the Catholic International Community and the Communauté Catholique Francophone de Nairobi.
“For decades, this parish has offered a home, a spiritual haven where generations have encountered Christ through sacraments, catechesis, outreach, prayer, fellowship, and service,” he said.
Described as “a sanctuary of peace, reflection, and prayer for all who seek God’s voice,” St. Austin’s prayer garden will be dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and is scheduled to officially open in May 2026 on the eve of Pentecost Sunday.
I hope the people of Israel come out of this safely. I had the opportunity to go there on a pilgrimage with my church in 2019. It was an immense privilege to walk in so many biblical towns and have daily Mass in all the churches. A beautiful and interesting place. The site of the crucifixion and the tomb was amazing to see and touch. Very spiritually moving. We were there during the Trump administration, and the American embassy had just been moved to Jerusalem. I was so sad to hear news of this attack this morning. Many of those living there are transplanted Americans. Please pray for them.
Israel will prevail, but at a cost. Things will get ugly. The Palestinians blame Israel for their misery and stupidity. Man for man, the Israelis put them to shame.
Biden built this; he, Valerie Jarret and Obama. The finger prints are obvious. I wouldn’t be surprised at all that many of the munitions Hamas used were sold off from the Ukraine and have our insignias. There is no oversight and Ukraine’s government is the epitome of moral bankruptcy. This news just makes the Lacrimarum Vale that much deeper, darker and loathsome.
In response, sensible voices must be absolutely clear: this was an anti-Semitic attack. It was of a piece with the pogroms carried out by the Cossacks, the Iraqi mobs during the Farhud, and the Nazis.
That last example is especially powerful, as a direct line can be drawn from Hitler to Hamas. During the Second World War, the extremist Palestinian leader Amin al-Husseini, who compared Jewishness to infectious disease and Jews to microbes or bacilli, worked with Nazi officials to translate Third Reich ideology into an Arabic context and transmit it into the Middle East via radio, leaflets and other means. His twisted ideology rings loudly in our ears today.
Look at Hamas’s charter. Article 32 – a conspiracy theory which accuses the Zionists of wishing to take over the entire territory between the Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Iraq, an area of thousands of square miles – says: “Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” To describe Hamas as being influenced by Nazi propaganda is insufficient. This is Nazi propaganda.
Interesting comment, considering the Jerusalem Post is suggesting the attack is a contender for the greatest intelligence failure in Israeli history. “How did Israel fall so far to such an inferior enemy?” the tagline asks. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-765254
Perhaps you will claim that the JPost story is also part of the same strategy? A rabbi in Jerusalem claims that the earthquake in Morocco was caused by their king’s call for Jerusalem to become the Palestinian capital. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-761707
Seems like there’s no shortage of dotted-line thinking on both sides.
After the British occupiers left Palestine, the United Nations 1947 Resolution no. 181 mandated the creation of two nations, Israel and Palestine, each with almost equal land areas. After wars and perpetual tensions through the decades the land area has been disproportionately made unequal by continued Israeli grabbing of Palestinian lands in defiance of UN and international laws leaving the Palestinians with only small portions that is the West Bank and Gaza even as the state of Palestine remains not fully established and sovereign today. While the Western media portray the Palestinians as the bad guys and terrorists, it is actually the Israelis who are so by their continued dispossession and dislocation of the Palestinians in violation of UN and international laws. Even present day pilgrims to the Holy Land can readily see the continued construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank contravening UN and international laws. Seen from this perspective, the modern state of Israel can be compared to China defying UN and international laws like the International Court of Arbitration that judged China’s grabbing of Philippine maritime territory as illegal. Palestinian militants rising against Israel mighty army can be compared to the Filipinos’ decrepit coast guard standing up against China’s bully coast guard as seen more and more on TV news recently.
There are many, many questions that need to be answered about the attack on Israel yesterday. How could a country with intelligence agencies renowned for their ability to infiltrate its enemies and allies alike be caught so flat-footed? This was a major operation and the Mossad apparently had no inkling that it was coming. That is very hard to believe. The surveillance and detection systems at the border were reportedly jammed by Hamas. If that is true, why did this in and of itself not cause an alarm to go off? Where was the world-class Israeli Air Force, which must patrol the relatively short border around the clock? Paragliders sailed right across the border after dawn had already broken without a sign of an Israeli aircraft, which could have easily picked them off. Even more incredibly, there is video of Hamas troops casually cutting through the border fence later in broad daylight with no cover and then streaming through with their pickup trucks and motorcycles in the open desert. Again, an airstrike by jets that could have arrived in a couple of minutes would have wipe these people out in an instant. This is either an epic and astonishing failure of Israel’s entire security apparatus or there is more to this story than what we see on the surface. I don’t pretend to know what happened and am afraid that no one is going to be seriously interested in finding out.
If Israel’s intelligence was taken off guard it should give us pause to wonder where our own defense system may have gaps. There’s no perfect intelligence department. We become complacent at our own peril.
The Gaza strip, and all Palestinian territory, is heavily infiltrated by Mossad, Shin Bet, and IDF personnel. *No way were they surprised.*
Israel either made or allowed this to occur–so that they could draw sympathy upon themselves, divert attention from the impending victory of gentile Christian Putin over Jewish Zelensky (bad PR for the Tribe!), and use this event as a pretext to wipe out the Palestinians.
The evidence presented thus far of an attack (fan para-gliders? really? unblocked and unnoticed truck and AFV attacks? really?) with attendant massive Israeli deaths looks suspicious and stagey–though there are probably some real Israel deaths as well. The bigwigs in Tel Aviv–and now Jerusalem–don’t mind killing (or allowing to be killed) a few of the lesser Israelis in order to advance Israeli goals of total dominion over the mid-east.
The effect of this will be to get the US to pony up even more billions for Israel (while Americans in Maui get 700 dollars for their torched homes) and allow Netanyahu to do what he has always wanted to do–genocide the Palestinians.
Also, the linking of the Palestinians to Iran will (of course) be made, and the US will now be easily induced to attack that country, especially as Biden needs a victory–since his proxy war against Russia is faring so badly.
Many Americans, including Christians are waking up however. They no longer believe the traditional 70s and 80s propaganda about dem Evil Iranians and dem Evil Ay-Rabs and dose good Israelis.
The US is a fast-fading empire. It literally does *nothing* right (see Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine). It is ruled by wicked and foolish men (and now women). But it does have, unlike Iraq, many weapons of mass destruction, and a mad beast is always dangerous.
Anyway, break out the popcorn and enjoy the Apocalyptic show! (I’m kidding, pray and make sacrifices for peace!).
I hope the people of Israel come out of this safely. I had the opportunity to go there on a pilgrimage with my church in 2019. It was an immense privilege to walk in so many biblical towns and have daily Mass in all the churches. A beautiful and interesting place. The site of the crucifixion and the tomb was amazing to see and touch. Very spiritually moving. We were there during the Trump administration, and the American embassy had just been moved to Jerusalem. I was so sad to hear news of this attack this morning. Many of those living there are transplanted Americans. Please pray for them.
Israel will prevail, but at a cost. Things will get ugly. The Palestinians blame Israel for their misery and stupidity. Man for man, the Israelis put them to shame.
Palestinians are intelligent people but have been manipulated and misled by Hamas. It’s a tragedy.
Biden built this; he, Valerie Jarret and Obama. The finger prints are obvious. I wouldn’t be surprised at all that many of the munitions Hamas used were sold off from the Ukraine and have our insignias. There is no oversight and Ukraine’s government is the epitome of moral bankruptcy. This news just makes the Lacrimarum Vale that much deeper, darker and loathsome.
From Islamist anti-Semitism is behind Israel’s darkest hour since the Yom Kippur war, by Jake Wallis Simons, October 7, 2023:
Excerpt (with link omitted, bold style added):
In response, sensible voices must be absolutely clear: this was an anti-Semitic attack. It was of a piece with the pogroms carried out by the Cossacks, the Iraqi mobs during the Farhud, and the Nazis.
That last example is especially powerful, as a direct line can be drawn from Hitler to Hamas. During the Second World War, the extremist Palestinian leader Amin al-Husseini, who compared Jewishness to infectious disease and Jews to microbes or bacilli, worked with Nazi officials to translate Third Reich ideology into an Arabic context and transmit it into the Middle East via radio, leaflets and other means. His twisted ideology rings loudly in our ears today.
Look at Hamas’s charter. Article 32 – a conspiracy theory which accuses the Zionists of wishing to take over the entire territory between the Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Iraq, an area of thousands of square miles – says: “Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” To describe Hamas as being influenced by Nazi propaganda is insufficient. This is Nazi propaganda.
I don’t believe that this was a surprise attack. It is likely a “playing the victim” strategy.
Interesting comment, considering the Jerusalem Post is suggesting the attack is a contender for the greatest intelligence failure in Israeli history. “How did Israel fall so far to such an inferior enemy?” the tagline asks. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-765254
Perhaps you will claim that the JPost story is also part of the same strategy? A rabbi in Jerusalem claims that the earthquake in Morocco was caused by their king’s call for Jerusalem to become the Palestinian capital. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-761707
Seems like there’s no shortage of dotted-line thinking on both sides.
Which side do you think is playing victim?
After the British occupiers left Palestine, the United Nations 1947 Resolution no. 181 mandated the creation of two nations, Israel and Palestine, each with almost equal land areas. After wars and perpetual tensions through the decades the land area has been disproportionately made unequal by continued Israeli grabbing of Palestinian lands in defiance of UN and international laws leaving the Palestinians with only small portions that is the West Bank and Gaza even as the state of Palestine remains not fully established and sovereign today. While the Western media portray the Palestinians as the bad guys and terrorists, it is actually the Israelis who are so by their continued dispossession and dislocation of the Palestinians in violation of UN and international laws. Even present day pilgrims to the Holy Land can readily see the continued construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank contravening UN and international laws. Seen from this perspective, the modern state of Israel can be compared to China defying UN and international laws like the International Court of Arbitration that judged China’s grabbing of Philippine maritime territory as illegal. Palestinian militants rising against Israel mighty army can be compared to the Filipinos’ decrepit coast guard standing up against China’s bully coast guard as seen more and more on TV news recently.
There are many, many questions that need to be answered about the attack on Israel yesterday. How could a country with intelligence agencies renowned for their ability to infiltrate its enemies and allies alike be caught so flat-footed? This was a major operation and the Mossad apparently had no inkling that it was coming. That is very hard to believe. The surveillance and detection systems at the border were reportedly jammed by Hamas. If that is true, why did this in and of itself not cause an alarm to go off? Where was the world-class Israeli Air Force, which must patrol the relatively short border around the clock? Paragliders sailed right across the border after dawn had already broken without a sign of an Israeli aircraft, which could have easily picked them off. Even more incredibly, there is video of Hamas troops casually cutting through the border fence later in broad daylight with no cover and then streaming through with their pickup trucks and motorcycles in the open desert. Again, an airstrike by jets that could have arrived in a couple of minutes would have wipe these people out in an instant. This is either an epic and astonishing failure of Israel’s entire security apparatus or there is more to this story than what we see on the surface. I don’t pretend to know what happened and am afraid that no one is going to be seriously interested in finding out.
If Israel’s intelligence was taken off guard it should give us pause to wonder where our own defense system may have gaps. There’s no perfect intelligence department. We become complacent at our own peril.
The Gaza strip, and all Palestinian territory, is heavily infiltrated by Mossad, Shin Bet, and IDF personnel. *No way were they surprised.*
Israel either made or allowed this to occur–so that they could draw sympathy upon themselves, divert attention from the impending victory of gentile Christian Putin over Jewish Zelensky (bad PR for the Tribe!), and use this event as a pretext to wipe out the Palestinians.
The evidence presented thus far of an attack (fan para-gliders? really? unblocked and unnoticed truck and AFV attacks? really?) with attendant massive Israeli deaths looks suspicious and stagey–though there are probably some real Israel deaths as well. The bigwigs in Tel Aviv–and now Jerusalem–don’t mind killing (or allowing to be killed) a few of the lesser Israelis in order to advance Israeli goals of total dominion over the mid-east.
The effect of this will be to get the US to pony up even more billions for Israel (while Americans in Maui get 700 dollars for their torched homes) and allow Netanyahu to do what he has always wanted to do–genocide the Palestinians.
Also, the linking of the Palestinians to Iran will (of course) be made, and the US will now be easily induced to attack that country, especially as Biden needs a victory–since his proxy war against Russia is faring so badly.
Many Americans, including Christians are waking up however. They no longer believe the traditional 70s and 80s propaganda about dem Evil Iranians and dem Evil Ay-Rabs and dose good Israelis.
The US is a fast-fading empire. It literally does *nothing* right (see Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine). It is ruled by wicked and foolish men (and now women). But it does have, unlike Iraq, many weapons of mass destruction, and a mad beast is always dangerous.
Anyway, break out the popcorn and enjoy the Apocalyptic show! (I’m kidding, pray and make sacrifices for peace!).