TODAY IN HISTORY
December 8, 1953: US President Dwight Eisenhower delivers his “Atoms for Peace” speech to the United Nations General Assembly. Eisenhower’s speech, and the program it announced, were meant to focus international attention on the peaceful uses of nuclear power, either as a way to ease fears about nuclear weapons or as cover for the massive US nuclear buildup that followed. Or, hey, why not both? And maybe drum up some revenue for US companies along the way? The Atoms for Peace program helped build research reactors in Iran, Israel, and Pakistan. Two of those countries eventually weaponized their nuclear programs, though ironically it’s the one that didn’t that’s become the DC Blob’s obsession.
December 8, 1980: Former member of the Beatles John Lennon is shot and killed outside of his home in New York City by Mark David Chapman.
MIDDLE EAST
ISRAEL-PALESTINE
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Israeli military (IDF) is escalating its campaign to kill the remaining Hamas fighters who are still trapped on the Israeli side of Gaza’s “yellow line,” risking the ceasefire in the process:
Israeli troops are mapping out the tunnels of eastern Rafah, where the local Hamas brigade is trapped, and using massive drills to dig into the underground system and destroy it with explosives, according to Israeli military statements. Israel estimates there were around 100 to 200 fighters in the tunnels when the cease-fire began in October. In public statements, Hamas officials say some 60 to 80 fighters are still holed up there. In some areas, Israel is flooding tunnels with water to push out the trapped fighters, a senior Israeli military official said.
The result is a desperate squeeze in which fighters face the choice of being killed in the tunnels or making a dangerous run for Hamas-held territory. It is a fight to the death that is continuing even as hostilities remain broadly halted elsewhere.
The fighters’ situation has become an issue in talks to advance the cease-fire in Gaza past the initial phase of pausing hostilities, with Hamas pressing negotiators to broker a deal to let the fighters return to the militant group’s territory. Israel is willing to let them live if they surrender, but Hamas has rejected the demand, much as it has refused to accept a peace plan’s requirement that it disarm and step away from any role in running affairs in Gaza.
In other items:
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