Update(1430ET): Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) international spokesperson Jonathan Conricus has summed up what this day means for Israel, calling in the country’s “Pearl Harbor” moment.

“The entire system failed. It’s not just one component. It’s the entire defense architecture that evidently failed to provide the necessary defense for Israeli civilians,” he told CNN of the surprise invasion from Gaza militants. “This is a Pearl Harbor type of moment for Israel, where there was reality up until today, and then there will be reality after today.”

Town-by-town and farm-by-farm fighting is still underway given Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) reportedly control swathes of southern territory and even military outposts in Israel.

Netanyahu and his cabinet now must be contemplating what will surely be a high-risk rescue operation and potential ground incursion.

⚡️More hostages being taken into Gaza pic.twitter.com/G612nStiQt

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 7, 2023

Every hour results in even more incredible, shocking footage being released of dead Israeli soldiers and civilians. The Times of Israel is reporting that over 200 Israelis have been killed, and at least 1,000 injured. The death toll is also mounting into the hundreds on the Gaza side as Israel retaliates.

In some instances, there are what look like Israeli soccer moms and their families being escorted barefoot across the border.

Video footage suggests at least dozens of Israelis have been taken captive, possibly even hundreds.

Grandmothers, men, women, children – the young and old – are being paraded in front of Hamas and PIJ cameras…

One of the POW’s captured by the PIJ in Gaza pic.twitter.com/vzLOWF4gT9

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) October 7, 2023

At the same time, the expected Israeli aerial assault has begun. In some instances entire apartment housing blocks have been leveled. 

Breaking: Many hundreds of Israeli civilians are being captured by #Hamas terrorists and are seen being taken back to #Gaza and attacked by #Palastinians#IsraelUnderAttack #Israel #IsraelPalestinewar pic.twitter.com/gx9YlyrBE4

— Jim Ferguson (@JimFergusonUK) October 7, 2023

There are reports saying that the IDF has taken back some of the bases seized by small teams of Palestinian militants earlier in the day.

…all of this after what was clearly a well-coordinated attack long in planning:

🔴🙏Alors que ce soir le sud de la #TerreSainte s’endort à feu et à sang, le ministère de la Santé israélien fait état d’au moins 100 morts et 1 000 blessés évacués vers les hôpitaux israéliens. De son côté, le ministère de la Santé du Hamas dénombre au moins 198 morts et 1600… pic.twitter.com/8pAtfTqgNV

— SOS Chrétiens d’Orient (@SOSCdOrient) October 7, 2023

Israeli woman in the hands of Hamas bleeding and beaten.
This is the Israeli woman from my previous video.
This is horrifying!#Israel #Hamas #Palestine #Palestinian #IronDome #Gaza #TelAviv

pic.twitter.com/jhDzDvGXDu

— Ashlea Simon (@AshleaSimonBF) October 7, 2023

But what the world woke up to at the start of Saturday were unprecedented scenes of Israelis in retreat…

Israeli Defence forces are now evacuating Air Bases near Gaza as thousands of terrorists flood into Israel.
This situation is just escalating.#Israel #Hamas #Palestine #Palestinian #IronDome #Gaza #TelAviv

pic.twitter.com/mcI9WyWSt8

— Ashlea Simon (@AshleaSimonBF) October 7, 2023

Rockets have continued to reach Tel Aviv from Gaza, and air raid sirens are active across many parts of the country.

⚡️View from Tel Aviv now pic.twitter.com/gf23ZTyrgJ

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 7, 2023

The first minutes of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The militants can be seen blowing up the wire fences and getting inside on motorcycles. Afterwards, they pull out the still living crew from the tank that was shot down by the drone.… pic.twitter.com/nqDyij5P3T

— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) October 7, 2023

Gaza apartments flattened by Israeli strikes…

Residential building in Gaza City flattened by Israeli airstrike. pic.twitter.com/BgdLcS4Mgf

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 7, 2023

* * * 

Palestinian militants on Saturday morning launched an “unprecedented” infultration attack on Israel, the biggest in years, sending fighters over the border from Gaza, firing thousands of rockets and killing dozens of Israelis. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a call-up of reservists and said “we are at war.” 

“We are in a war and we will win it.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel “at war” after Gaza Strip militants fired over 2,000 missiles and infiltrated southern parts of the country in a surprise attack on Saturday https://t.co/SWTOsHjySu pic.twitter.com/PQRSfL20jY

— Bloomberg (@business) October 7, 2023

Here are the latest highlights from the rapidly changing situation:

• Militant group Hamas launched a sustained barrage of more than 5,000 rockets in a coordinated attack by land, sea and air. According to the NYT, the Hamas assault from Gaza on southern Israel has had few precedents in its complexity and scale, invading several Israeli towns and firing thousands of rockets toward cities as far away as Jerusalem.
• The Israeli military said that at least 2,200 rockets had been fired into Israel by 11 a.m. on Saturday and that armed gunmen had crossed the border fence in several locations along Israel’s perimeter with Gaza, a poor coastal enclave that has been under blockade by Israel and neighboring Egypt for 16 years.
• In addition to land, the militants also crossed into Israel by sea and air, according to the Israeli military. By late morning, at least 22 Israelis had been killed in the surprise attacks from Gaza and hundred more injured according to Israel’s main ambulance service, and Israel had retaliated with massive strikes on Gazan cities, killing at least one Palestinian, according to local reports.
• Palestinian militants infiltrated at least seven Israeli communities and army bases this morning, according to the Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht. He said militants had reached the city of Sderot; the small towns of Kfar Azza, Nahal Oz, Magen, Beeri; the military bases of Reim and Zikim, which are close to towns of the same name; and the militarized border checkpoint at Erez. Fighting was ongoing at or near the at least three of those places, he said.
• Israel’s emergency services said 22 people have been killed in the surprise attacks from Gaza and hundred more injured.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was now “at war” and that he had convened the heads of the security forces and instructed them to first clear all Israeli villages of Palestinian militants who had entered from Gaza.
• Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that there was a military operation “in defense of the Aqsa mosque,” the hotly contested holy site in Jerusalem that thousands of Jews have visited in recent weeks, and against the Israeli blockade.
• Israeli hospitals said they had received hundreds of wounded. Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba had admitted more than 80 people, with some “in very difficult condition,” a hospital spokeswoman said. The ambulance service, Magen David Adom, issued an urgent call for blood.
• Israel Defense Forces said they were carrying out strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza in response to the attacks on Israel.
• Air-raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem, while explosions were heard in Tel Aviv

Hamas releases a (Hezbollah-style) video showing how they penetrated the border. pic.twitter.com/tTGVIed7IM

— Dalia Hatuqa🪬🤌 (@DaliaHatuqa) October 7, 2023

More details:

The ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea, catching the country off guard on a major holiday.

Several hours after the invasion began, Hamas militants were still fighting gunbattles inside several Israeli communities in a surprising show of strength that shook the country. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 22 people have been killed, dozens of Israelis taken hostage, and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years. 

⚡️Palestinians seizing tanks and other vehicles at an IDF military site east of Gaza pic.twitter.com/0ylRKiReP3

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 7, 2023

At least 561 wounded people were being treated in Israeli hospitals, including at least 77 who were in critical condition, according to an Associated Press count based on public statements and calls to hospitals.

There was no official comment on casualties in Gaza, but Associated Press reporters said they witnessed the funerals of 15 people who were killed and saw another eight bodies arrive at a local hospital. It was not immediately clear if they were fighters or civilians.

As the AP also reports, social media was replete with videos of Hamas fighters parading what appeared to be stolen Israeli military vehicles through the streets and at least one dead Israeli soldier within Gaza being dragged and trampled by an angry crowd of Palestinians shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

Hamas has invaded towns in southern Israel and is shooting people (warning: disturbing)…

Hamas terrorists continue to engage any Israeli resident in their vicinity.

It seems most that infiltrated are part of their specialized commando unit. pic.twitter.com/AqGcXuQRA6

— Global: Military-Info (@Global_Mil_Info) October 7, 2023

Videos released by Hamas appeared to show at least three Israelis captured alive. The military declined to give details about casualties or kidnappings as it continued to battle the infiltrators.

“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, declaring a mass army mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war.” “The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”

Apocalyptic scenes right now in southern Israel. pic.twitter.com/uuseUdcytV

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) October 7, 2023

At a meeting of top security officials later on Saturday, Netanyahu said the first priority was to “cleanse the area” of enemy infiltrators, then to “exact a huge price from the enemy,” and to fortify other areas so that no other militant groups join the war.

The serious invasion on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, revived painful memories of the 1973 Mideast war practically 50 years to the day, in which Israel’s enemies launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Comparisons to one of the most traumatic moments in Israeli history sharpened criticism of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who had campaigned on more aggressive action against threats from Gaza. Political commentators lambasted the government over its failure to anticipate what appeared to be a Hamas attack unseen in its level of planning and coordination.

The Israeli military struck targets in Gaza in response for some 2,500 rockets that sent air raid sirens wailing constantly as far north as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. It said its forces were engaged in gunfights with Hamas militants who had infiltrated Israel in at least seven locations. The fighters had sneaked across the separation fence and even invaded Israel through the air with paragliders, the army said.

Israeli TV broadcast footage of explosions tearing through the Gaza-Israel border fence, followed by what appeared to be Palestinian gunmen riding into Israel on motorcycles. Gunmen also reportedly entered on pickup trucks.

It was not immediately clear what prompted Hamas to launch the attacks, which would have likely required months of planning. But over the past year Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, announced the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.” The Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, and is located on the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

“Enough is enough,” Deif, who does not appear in public, said in the recorded message, as he called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”

In a televised address, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”

The infiltration of fighters into southern Israel marked a major escalation by Hamas that forced millions of Israelis to hunker down in safe rooms. Cities and towns emptied as the military closed roads near Gaza. Israel’s rescue service and the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza appealed to the public to donate blood.

“We understand that this is something big,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, told reporters. He said the Israeli military had called up the army reserves.

Hecht declined to comment on how Hamas had managed to catch the army off guard. “That’s a good question,” he said.

Ismail Haniyeh, the exiled leader of Hamas, said that Palestinian fighters were “engaged in these historic moments in a heroic operation” to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Israel has built a massive fence along the Gaza border meant to prevent infiltrations. It goes deep underground and is equipped with cameras, high-tech sensors and sensitive listening technology. Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then. There have also been numerous rounds of smaller fighting between Israel and Hamas and other smaller militant groups based in Gaza.

The blockade, which restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, has devastated the territory’s economy. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep militant groups from building up their arsenals. The Palestinians say the closure amounts to collective punishment.

The escalation comes after weeks of heightened tensions along Israel’s volatile border with Gaza, and heavy fighting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Saturday’s wide-ranging assault threatened to undermine Netanyahu’s reputation as a security expert who would do anything to protect Israel. It also raised questions about the cohesion of a security apparatus crucial to the stability of a country locked in low-intensity conflicts on multiple fronts and facing threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah congratulated Hamas on Friday, praising the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes” and saying the militants had “divine backing.” The group said its command in Lebanon was in contact with Hamas about the operation.

⚡️Damage in Netivot after an arrival of a rocket from Gaza pic.twitter.com/hxvNv2SYO1

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 7, 2023

* * *

The timing of the assault was striking, hitting Israel at one of the lowest moments in its history. It followed months of profound anxiety about the cohesion of Israeli society and the readiness of its military, a crisis set off by the government’s efforts to reduce the power of the judiciary. And the violence came 50 years and a day after the Yom Kippur War of 1973, when Israel was also surprised by a complex Arab attack, leading to huge Israeli losses and soul-searching about the state of the country.

Muhammad Deif, the leader of the military wing of Hamas, the Islamic militant organization that controls Gaza, said in a recorded message that the group had decided to launch an “operation” so that “the enemy will understand that the time of their rampaging without accountability has ended.”

In response to the Hamas attack, the Israeli military said it launched strikes against 17 military compounds and locations connected to Hamas’s leadership in Gaza. The army released videos of strikes on cars, Palestinian militants and other targets. Dozens of air force jet fighters launched the attacks, the Israeli military said.

The Israel Defense Force has 169,000 active-duty troops and 465,000 reservists and remains the Middle East’s most formidable force, supplied with some of the most advanced drones and other weapons from Israel’s technology sector and from the U.S., which provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military assistance.

The Israeli military has conducted frequent raids in Palestinian cities and refugee camps, with bloody confrontations ensuing with well-armed militants. The army also flooded southern Israel with ground troops to manage the incursion, it said.

The IDF said it had named the counter offensive against Hamas operation swords of iron.

Footage of a hamas infiltrator using a motorized hang glider to get into Israel.

This is insane. pic.twitter.com/pUbmSEseUZ

— Global: Military-Info (@Global_Mil_Info) October 7, 2023

Meanwhile, as the WSJ details, the declaration of war by Israel against Hamas comes at a time of turmoil in Israeli politics.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced a backlash against legislation introduced to limit the power of the Supreme Court. His coalition passed the first part of the law in July, prompting mass protests and raising fears about Israel’s national security.

Thousands of military reservists said at the time they would quit as a result of the change to the law, and union leaders and medical professionals threatened mass work stoppages. Military officials have warned that the legislation was undermining unity within the military.

The law takes away the Supreme Court’s ability to nullify government decisions it finds “unreasonable in the extreme”—a concept that lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition said was nebulous and allowed liberal judges to overturn the will of an increasingly right-wing electorate.

The effort to overhaul the judiciary has been the governing coalition’s priority since Netanyahu was re-elected last year. Coalition members have said the government plans to move ahead with the next part of the overhaul, which would aim to change the way judges are appointed, after the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, reconvenes in mid-October. The law is being challenged in Israel’s Supreme Court.

* * *

Western nations condemned the incursion and reiterated their support for Israel, while others called for restraint on both sides.

“The U.S. unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians,” said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the U.S. National Security Council. “We stand firmly with the government and people of Israel and extend our condolences for the Israeli lives lost in these attacks.”

Watson said Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, has spoken with his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi.

Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, released a statement calling on both sides to exercise restraint. The kingdom said it had repeatedly warned about “ the dangers of the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation (and) the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”

* * *

Finally, there is some speculation that Iran may get dragged into what is rapidly emerging as the worst Middle-Eastern crisis in years, with various pro-Israeli hawks claiming that the Hamas attack would have only occurred with explicit Iranian backing. If Israel does indeed attack Iran, as it has hinted it would do for years, may we suggest you fill up your gas tank.

Authored by Emel Akan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The transgender movement has recently gained significant national attention for a number of reasons, including the controversy surrounding big corporations like Budweiser and Target’s support for the movement as well as widespread public opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

To raise awareness about the harms caused by the movement, Moms For America, an advocacy group for family rights, hosted a virtual screening and panel discussion of the Epoch Original docudrama “Gender Transformation: The Untold Realities” on Oct. 5 at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

The event explored the complex issues surrounding gender confusion, transgenderism, and their effect on young people. It also informed parents about growing extremist behavior in schools across the country.

After watching the movie for the first time, Moms For America founder and president Kimberly Fletcher felt moved and decided to host a screening.

“I think when people see this, they will realize that this is really a billion-dollar business that’s set up to mutilate our children,” she said in an interview with NTD TV, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

By following the journeys of several former transgender youths, The Epoch Times film unpacks the complexities behind the rise of the transgender movement and the role played by institutions, from schools to medical and pharmaceutical companies.

As the documentary highlights, parents are often confronted with a challenging dilemma during their children’s gender identity crises: “Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?”

Parents, however, recognize that the answer to this heartbreaking question is far from simple.

Jan Jekielek, senior editor with The Epoch Times and host of the EpochTV show “American Thought Leaders,” stated that the film and the panel discussion “serve as a valuable resource, even offering possible solutions for parents and their children when they are faced with gender confusion.”

The live panel discussion following the film screening featured Ms. Fletcher, Mercedes Schlapp, senior fellow at the American Conservative Union Foundation, January Littlejohn, licensed mental health councilor, Mark Trammell, executive director and general counsel of the Center for American Liberty, Katherine Welch, physician and collaborating clinician for the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, and Laura Perry Smalts, author of “Transgendered to Transformed.”

The live panel discussion focused on some of the stories of what families have experienced and what they can do to protect their children.

“This issue of gender ideology, I think, has been so toxic for American culture. And it’s spreading,” Ms. Schlapp told NTD TV during the event.

“If we lose our children, if we become a genderless society, if we continue to create confusion here in America, it will be the fall of this great country,” she added.

Moms for America provides various resources for parents to tackle this issue, including a book called “Gender Confusion.” The book explains what parents need to know to protect their children from the transgender movement.

“We want everyone to know this is not normal,” Ms. Fletcher said of the transgender movement during the panel.

“Nobody ever told me that this wasn’t real, that this was all just an aesthetic appearance. I had no idea the profound effect it would have on my body,” she said.

“I was so depressed and became suicidal. And I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to be a woman, but I knew I’d never be a man. I was caught somewhere in between.”

She eventually realized that an emotional trauma she experienced as a child was the driving force behind her decision to transition to a male.

“But thankfully, by the grace of God, the Lord began to rescue me. I had so many people praying for me. I know it’s only by God’s grace that I’m here.”

January Littlejohn was one of the panelists at the event. Ms. Littlejohn drew national attention after suing a Florida school for secretly assisting her daughter in changing her gender.

Ms. Littlejohn’s fight against the school prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to approve legislation prohibiting schools from making decisions regarding a student’s health and well-being without consulting parents.

“The one thing I tell parents is that you are the expert on your child, not the school, not the therapist,” she said during the panel discussion.

“It is critically important to maintain an attached and healthy relationship with your child through the teen years.”

The Center for American Liberty is an organization that represents parents who oppose school secrecy policies.

“We never charge our clients a penny,” Mark Trammell, executive director and general counsel for the Center for American Liberty, said during the panel.

“We’re able to exist because we have donors across the country who support our organization and make it possible to file these public interest lawsuits.”

The docudrama tells the real-life stories of several former transgender youth who started the gender transitioning process and their experiences at various stages of the journey through interviews and re-enactments.

Experts interviewed in the film reveal the life-altering medical and psychological impacts of the experimental medication used, including the irreversible side effects of puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries that are often ignored by the media.

In the docudrama, award-winning director Tobias Elvhage brings to light the untold realities and implications of the transgender movement on American children and youth. His most recent awards include Best Short Film at the 2023 LA Documentary Film Festival and Winner of the 2023 European Cinematography Awards.

“This is a big night and a very important movie about gender confusion,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said in a video message during the panel discussion. “I’m so thankful to the people that created this movie to spread awareness of this unbelievable evil that has come all across America, and it’s targeting our children.”

The congresswoman introduced a bill that makes gender-affirming care for any child under the age of 18 a felony.

“This is not a battle against any adult’s rights to self-identify or change their sexuality. This is not an us against them situation,” Vanessa Faura, executive director of Moms For America, said during a press briefing ahead of the event.

“My message today is simple: all children are sacred. And there should be no room for any agenda that harms them in any way, shape, or form. They will not be indoctrinated. They will not be groomed.”

The Western world, much of which by and large supports Israel, woke up to shocking scenes on Saturday of Israeli civilians being taken captive and driven or in some cases literally walked across the border into Gaza.

Today marks the biggest Hamas assault on Israel amid signs of a general Palestinian uprising in a couple of decades. Israeli PM Netanyahu has promised a wider war, likely to come in the form of a ground invasion of Gaza in an attempt to root out Hamas once and for all. 

This conflict will get worse before it gets better, and is sure to last weeks or possibly months. The danger of escalation with Hezbollah in the north will only grow. 

Washington has already vowed to support Israel as it retaliates and attempts to free the Israeli soldiers which Hamas has taken captive, though numbers of troops and civilians in Hamas hands can’t be confirmed at this point. 

Shocking videos of Israeli civilians being taken captive…

⚡️Another video of hostages taken by Hamas into Gaza pic.twitter.com/xQHgHZB8Ob

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 7, 2023

Multiple disturbing videos like the below are coming out of the region…

This is the worst attack I’ve seen since moving to Israel 9 years ago—Israeli civilians captured by Hamas terrorists, Israeli towns overrun by Hamas. IDF was caught completely unprepared for this sneak invasion. Preparing now for all-out war. Terrifying. pic.twitter.com/vw882OSgHP

— Joel C. Rosenberg (@JoelCRosenberg) October 7, 2023

Israeli civilians are being kidnapped off the streets of southern Israel…

Wild: Israel has completely lost control of settlements near Gaza, Hamas is straight up carrying off Israeli captives a mix of civilian and military, men and women alike pic.twitter.com/GStZnz0ZPD

— ib (@Indian_Bronson) October 7, 2023

Below is initial world reaction, via Middle East Eye…

* * *

Saudi Arabia

For several weeks, rumours have swirled that Saudi Arabia is edging closer to normalizing ties with Israel as Israeli ministers visited the Gulf kingdom. 

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry offered a mild statement, calling for an “immediate cessation of violence”.

“We are following the unprecedented developments between a number of Palestinian factions and Israel occupation forces which has led to a high level of violence on a number of fronts,” the foreign ministry said. 

Iran

An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday congratulated Palestinian fighters for launching the biggest attack on Israel in years, the semi-official ISNA news site reported.

“We congratulate the Palestinian fighters,” it quoted Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying. “We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.”

Iran’s state television showed parliament members rising from their seats on Saturday to chant “Death to Israel” and “Palestine is victorious, Israel will be destroyed”.

Qatar

Qatar’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying that Israel alone was responsible for the ongoing escalation of violence with the Palestinian people.

It said Qatar calls on both sides to exercise utmost restraint and on the international community to prevent Israel from using these events as an excuse to launch a disproportionate war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Egypt

Over the years, Gaza’s closest neighbour, Egypt, has played a central role in negotiating ceasefires between Palestinian militant groups in Gaza and Israel. 

Egypt on Saturday warned of “grave consequences” from an escalation in tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, in a statement from the foreign ministry carried by the state news agency.

It called for “exercising maximum restraint and avoiding exposing civilians to further danger”.

Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called on Israelis and Palestinians to act with restraint and refrain from hostile acts that could exacerbate the situation.

“We call for restraint from all parties,” Erdogan said at a congress for his ruling AK Party in Ankara. “They must refrain from aggressive acts.”

United States

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States would work to ensure that Israel “has what it needs to defend itself”.

“Over the coming days the Department of Defence will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism,” Austin said in a statement.

United Kingdom 

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to issue a condemnation against Hamas. 

“The UK unequivocally condemns the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians. The UK will always support Israel’s right to defend itself,” said Cleverly. 

Russia

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minsiter Mikhail Bogdanov told the Interfax News agency that Moscow was in contact with Israel, the Palestinians and Arab countries. 

“It goes without saying that we always call for restraint,” said Bogdanov. 

Ukraine

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns the ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel, including rockets against the civilian population in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv”. 

The ministry added: “We express our support for Israel in its right to defend itself and its people.” 

United Nations

The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an immediate halt to the violence, saying he was shocked by reports that hundreds of rockets had been fired towards Israel.

“This attack is having a horrific impact on Israeli civilians,” Volker Tuerk said in a statement.

“Civilians must never be the target of attack.”

Authored by Law Ka-chung via The Epoch Times,

We have been emphasizing here that the yield curve is a very powerful predictor of recession, that whenever a three-month yield (on Bonds) is lower than that of a ten-year by over 50 basis points (bps) or for over two months, the inversion is deemed reliable.

Months ago, the inversion reached 200 bps, implying an almost 80 percent chance of recession ahead. Such a strong signal has not been seen for over four decades since the early 1980s. However, there is a long gap from the beginning of inversion to the start of a recession, usually in the range of four to six quarters with a mean of five.

Instead of blindly believing such a time gap, one school suggests inversion is due much more to policy rate hikes than long-tenor yield movement under market forces. In other words, yield curve inversion predicting a recession is somehow equivalent to a rate hike causing a recession.

Coincidentally, the usual time needed for a rate hike to be effective is roughly four to six quarters, which is pretty much the same time gap between yield curve inversion and recession realization. This round, the inversion was first seen last November, implying recession should now begin.

Despite a recession is usually not known until happens, there are usually some signs. Specifically, lending growth has already been much weaker than before under high interest rates.

The attached chart compares U.S. consumer credit and real GDP year-over-year (YoY) growth. They have co-moved almost since the beginning of records. Although consumption is regarded as important for its largest share of GDP, it is not in terms of growth. Consumption growth is well-known to be low and stable, which is human nature. Instead, other components are the drivers.

(KC Law, Ka Chung)

As a growth driver, investment ranks higher than output, which is higher than consumption. In equilibrium, they grow at the same rate, but their volatilities differ. In the long run, production equals consumption but the former is not as smooth as the latter. For example, agricultural crops are harvested only once or twice a year but people eat every day. Investment is producing future output, which is even more volatile by definition. It is the volatility that drives the growth during a boom period, and similarly drives the contraction during the bust. This applies everywhere.

Knowing all these, it will be relatively easy to judge the cycle status by looking at the investment type data. The famous candidates are the housing-related ones, but these are sector-specific and may not represent the overall economy. By contrast, consumption credit is a leveraged indicator of consumption having an investment nature. Since the series is, in principle, about consumption, the shape is smoother than GDP, as is seen from the chart. Its declining trend confirms the slowdown without too much lag, thanks to its monthly released frequency.

Once this loop of borrow to consume stops, the growth of other areas could cool down quickly. In one to two quarters ahead or five to six quarters since the yield curve inversion, the tightening effect will be more vividly seen in broader areas, which will define the beginning of the recession.

In a scene which has become familiar in Ukraine but not so much in the Middle East until now, Palestinian fighters released video footage of an attack on an Israeli Merkava Mk4 tank using a drone armed with what appears to be a mortar round.  The round strikes the engine compartment, which unlike most tanks sits at the front of the Merkava, and the vehicle immediately catches fire from the inside.

🇮🇱🇵🇸 BREAKING: DRONES USED!

The Palestinians managed to knock out an Israeli Merkava Mk4 tank with a grenade from a copter.

Judging by the footage, the tank’s mechanical maintenance compartment, located at the front, caught fire. pic.twitter.com/oUM9sWMLhX

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) October 7, 2023

The Merkava Mk4 is a very distinct tank that is only fielded by the Israeli military.  The vehicle in the footage is no doubt a Merkava:

The tank strike is part of a comparatively well coordinated attack on southern Israel by a large contingent of Palestinian soldiers following a barrage of up to 5000 missiles into highly populated areas according to reports.  The level of tactical sophistication on display during the event is unusual for the Palestinians, which will inevitably lead Israeli leadership to suggest outside influences (including Iran). 

Small drones are becoming a game changer in modern warfare, making million dollar hard targets such as large tanks easy to strike using a few hundred dollars in equipment.  While the incursion into Israel is in its infancy and all new information is difficult to confirm, there is clearly an updated style of warfare being used among the Palestinians that has, for now, given them a level of effectiveness that is surely disturbing to Israeli security officials.       

Authored by J.G.Collins via The Epoch Times,

Describing the mission of his National Review magazine in its inaugural edition of on Nov. 19, 1955, the then not-yet 30 year-old conservative icon William F. Buckley wrote that his new magazine “stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.”

Rishi Sunak, Britain’s Tory prime minister, seems to have bravely adopted at least some of that mission by challenging Britain’s radical climate agenda. It is a lesson for the United States.

Addressing Britain’s sanguine climate policy Sunak said, “there’s nothing ambitious about simply asserting a goal for a short-term headline without being honest with the public about the tough choices and sacrifices involved and without any meaningful democratic debate about how we get there.”

Mind you, Mr. Sunak is not what the climate cult types calls a “climate change denier”; far from it. But he understands that aspirations without means are merely pipe dreams. And he also understands that imposing climate mandates without public discourse or debate is antithetical to the democratic principles that underlies his republic, as it does ours.

What Are We Doing?

Unfortunately, the mismatch between means and aspirations, as well as the disregard for democratic principles, characterizes much of what passes for the national climate policies of both the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated that automobiles in the Model Year 2026 CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards at 55 miles per gallon for sedans and 39 mpg for trucks and light duty trucks/SUVs.  Those are enormous increases of 25 percent and 28 percent, respectively, just since 2020.

(Source: Environmental Protection Agency/CAFE Standards by Year 1978–2025)

The clear intention in raising the CAFE standards so quickly is to force consumers into buying new cars that are either fully or partially electric, hybrids, or fully electric. But there is clear resistance, as reflected in this comment even from Kyle Bass, an avid environmentalist and chief investment officer of Conservation Equity Management, a private equity fund focused on “facilitating conservation investment.

The advertised ranges of EVs have turned out to be pure fantasy (we own two Teslas). After a couple of years, the batteries degrade even more (think about your iPhone). I will never give up my combustion engine.

— 🇺🇸 Kyle Bass 🇹🇼 (@Jkylebass) September 19, 2023

State and local governments in so-called “blue” states have been even more aggressive in forcing radical lifestyle changes on the people in their jurisdiction. In New York, for example, it is something of a race to “make history,” with elected officials lauding the city’s status as “the first city in America to [insert costly, new, crackpot, “green” energy notion here]. See this example lauding an expensive “congestion pricing” tax scheme the city will impose next year, whereby drivers who go below 6oth Street in Manhattan will have to pay a congestion pricing toll of $26 to “reduce fuel consumed and pollutant emissions.”

NEW: New York City is leading the nation by becoming the first city in America with a congestion pricing program — setting the standard in the fight for cleaner air, better transit, and less traffic.

As we so often do here in New York, today, we’re making history.

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) June 27, 2023

Another “green” initiative bans new construction in New York City from having natural gas hookups, even though natural gas reserves are estimated at 300 years and natural gas burns far cleaner than many alternatives. New York’s legendary pizzerias, some serving pizza from coal-fired ovens for more than a century will likely be forced to adopt to electric pizza ovens. Another initiative will force New Yorkers to hold onto  their garbage for up to a week for mandatory composting of organic waste, since the city’s plan only allows for compost pick-ups just once a week. Imagine the smell. And the vermin!

At least two council members are starting to pay attention to the mismatch between means and ends, and the enormous costs of compliance to their constituents, but they are well in the minority in the council.

Got Democracy?

Prime Minister Sunak stated, simply, that “it cannot be right … to impose such significant costs on working people, especially those who are already struggling to make ends meet, and to interfere so much in people’s way of life without a properly informed national debate.”

We should all cheer, “Hear! Hear!”

These new CAFE standards and other climate-related mandates weren’t decisions arrived at by referendum or consensus; they were decreed by bureaucrats. In New York, the City Council imposing mandate after mandate is dominated overwhelmingly by Democrats, and most of those are “woke” progressives whose principal life experience is working in politics or at not-for-profits funded by the city. Their inexperience and inability to see anything beyond their altruistic objective personify the kind of thinking that overstates aspirations without regard to means—exactly as Prime Minister Sunak described in his talk.

The Means to Ends

So let’s look at means.

Few would argue that it is better to reduce hydrocarbon emissions, if we can, for the general health of the people, if not to achieve climate goals. But we also need to maintain an economy to feed, clothe, and house hundreds of millions of people and ensure our national security.

We cannot do those things if we overburden the nation’s electric grid. We cannot do those things relying on “renewables” like wind  and solar power—not even with the best of those technologies we have available today. And we cannot do that with Americans abandoning their gasoline-powered internal combustion engines in favor of electric vehicles (EVs) that most of them cannot afford and that require a charge from an overburdened electrical grid. We might be able generate all the required electricity the climate cult demands with nuclear energy and a massive investment in the electrical grid, but progressive abhor the former and have made no provisions at all to pay for the latter.

At an average cost of $64,000, the cost of EVs the climate cult would have us all adopt are now, and will likely continue to be, well beyond the financial means of most Americans. They’re also extraordinarily heavy, going from hundreds to thousands of pounds more than gasoline-powered cars. That makes EV crashes far less survivable than their gas-powered counterparts, and raises concerns about the structural integrity of roads, bridges, and vertical parking garages.

That’s to say nothing of how vulnerable an “all EV” economy would make us. First, the inputs necessary to make EVs are at risk as they come largely from a geopolitical adversary, China. Other EV inputs depend on mining in countries in the Third World where China is aggressively developing geostrategic advantage, but where we have no other interest except for EV inputs. The United States simply cannot rely on that supply chain. Nor can we afford to further exacerbate our balance of payments deficit with China by buying their batteries or to go tit-for-tat with China for aid and investments in countries where we have no other geopolitical interests. Challenging China for these EV supplies could present grievous fiscal, geopolitical, and geostrategic challenges, even war. And for what?  EVs?

Prime Minister Sunak, who accepts the hypothesis that human activity is responsible for climate change, may not be yelling “Stop!” in the manner Mr. Buckley described; he may simply be saying “slow down.” And reasonably so. For now, though, it is enough.

We need to ensure that the technology we have to fulfill the climate cult’s ambitious agenda is viable, affordable, and secure from a geostrategic perspective. Major elements of the “green” supply chain cannot be in the hands of those who would use it to force their political ends upon us. We learned that lesson with OPEC oil shock in the 1970s.

But we are just starting to do that. NASA has developed a prototype for a light battery for use in aircraft. Small modular reactors—technological cousins of the type we use in our nuclear navy that have been used safely for nearly 70 years—are less costly, more efficient, and more easily deployed—as well as arguably safer—than their large counterparts.

But bringing those and other technologies to bear to power cities, factories, and, yes, EVs, will require another 30–50 years. In the meantime, we will have wasted trillions on technology that is effectively obsolescent the moment it comes online.

Listen to William F. Buckley: “Stop!”

Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via Open The Books,

KEY TAKEAWAY: As Congress fights overspending, we want to show that members are appropriating, wasting and sometimes hiding massive amounts of money from the taxpayers.

For instance, in 2021, at the peak of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent $237,960 on solar powered picnic tables. We wonder if they included a social distancing app.  The State Department dialed up nearly $120,000 brand-new Ethan Allen leather recliners for its embassy in Islamabad. 

The feds spent $26 million on furniture for their conference rooms, while their meetings were held on ZOOM. Spending included $700,000 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for their New York regional office conference room.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) spent nearly $250,000 on a conference room “refresh” with expensive, high-end Herman Miller furniture. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) purchased $284,000 in Herman Miller furniture for their headquarters conference center.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation spent $14.4 million on new furniture for its 1,000 employees – that’s $14,400 per employee.

Environmental Protection Agency downsized its 300,000 square foot office space in Philadelphia — but upsized the furniture. It used relocation as a license to redecorate $6.5 million on high end furniture when moving into smaller space at Four Penn Central.

WHAT WE FOUND: Despite federal employees working from home, the agencies continued to splurge on furniture purchases.

There was no material difference in the amount federal agencies collectively spent on office furniture between the years 2018 and 2022.

Here is how individual agencies break out:

• Transportation used just 9% of its office space – but spent $55 million on furniture.

• Agriculture used just 9% of its office space as well. It spent $57 million on furniture. 

• General Services Administration also hit 9% usage. And it found… $308 million for furniture.

• Veterans Affairs used just 16% of its office space but spent $428 million on furniture.

• Defense used 23% of its space and spent $1.2 billion on furniture. Had it occupied 100%, would it have spent $4.8 billion?

• Justice used 35% of its offices yet spent $408 million on furniture. State spent $302 million. Homeland Security spent $156 million. 

Low utilization rates were attributable to the following factors: increased number of staff working remotely, outdated building configurations, historic utilization problems, and a reluctance for agency leaders to share space with other agencies.  

Most of the major federal agency headquarters are one quarter full or less, and none are at 50 percent capacity or more, according to the report.  

Remote work has surged at federal agencies since the pandemic began. A Federal News Network survey conducted in November 2022 found 60 percent of federal employee respondents were working completely remotely, 33 percent had a hybrid situation, and the rest worked in office.  

The Biden administration has urged agencies to reduce telework ‘aggressively’ in a recent email from White House chief of staff Jeff Zients to Cabinet officials.

Congressional Republicans have renewed requests for information from agency officials about telework policies.

In May 2022, House Republicans introduced the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act, which would have required agencies to return to pre-pandemic telework levels.

Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

COVID censorship appears to be making a comeback—if it ever left.

Numerous physicians and academicians say they have been attempting to publish studies that show that lockdowns had enormous costs and marginal benefits, but they have found many doors were closed.

“The whole scientific review process on anything related to COVID-19 has become highly politicized and contaminated,” Steve Hanke, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University and former member of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan, told The Epoch Times. Mr. Hanke says he has been among those who have experienced censorship for criticizing lockdowns.

While many people may look back on the pandemic shuttering of schools, businesses and churches as costly, intrusive and, in some cases, devastating failures of government, lockdowns are garnering increasingly favorable reviews within the medical community, as reports critical of lockdowns are being silenced.

This is occurring at a time of revelations that the Biden administration leaned on tech and media companies to silence voices that dissented from the official COVID narratives.

In September, a federal appeals court ruled that the White House, the U.S. surgeon general, the CDC and the FBI had “likely violated the First Amendment” in pressuring social media companies to censor the views of those critical to official government narratives on COVID. The court ordered agencies and individuals within the Biden administration not to “coerce or significantly encourage a platform’s content-moderation decisions,” or otherwise influence social media companies to block protected speech.

“The issue is not whether the ideas are wrong or right,” Dr. Bhattacharya said following the ruling. “The question is who gets to control what ideas are expressed in the public square.”

The Biden administration appealed the decision, which will likely ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. The central question is the extent to which private companies infringe on Americans’ First Amendment rights if they censor at the behest of government officials.

While the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN), a premier publisher of medical and other scientific studies operated by Netherlands publisher Elsevier, rejected the final HJH report, it did publish articles that attacked the HJH report.

Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Embalming a body involves replacing the blood with chemical solutions to preserve it and slow decomposition.

Some embalmers say that starting in 2021, they suddenly began seeing an “anomaly” during that process—a phenomenon of long, rubbery, white masses inside the blood vessels.

Others say they have seen nothing new.

The Epoch Times contacted embalmers and funeral directors from around the world to understand the disparity.

An Oklahoma mortician responded, saying, “Yes, the embalmers at this funeral location have all encountered this phenomenon, each multiple times during embalming in the last two years.” A funeral director in Pennsylvania told The Epoch Times: “We’ve seen this stuff—absolutely. We’ve seen it enough to discuss it within the company.”

The mortician said his company thought the white, fibrous clots were just an anomaly.

“What do I attribute it to? I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it previously,” he said.

“As far as numbers, it’s hard to say. When we first started noticing it in 2021, it was like, ‘Oh, wow, I wonder if their cholesterol was off the charts.’

On the other hand, many of the respondents to The Epoch Times’ survey said that not only had they not seen the fibrous masses in the bodies they embalmed, but they considered the reports from other embalmers and funeral directors to be “nonsense.”

“It’s all nonsense, COVID vaccine conspiracy-theory [expletive],” a Canadian embalmer told The Epoch Times in an email. “We embalm over 400 bodies yearly and have never seen [this].“

Several respondents from Canada, Australia, and the UK said they haven’t seen any of the white, fibrous clots, with one calling it “ridiculous claptrap.”

However, responses from 11 embalmers in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand tell a similar story of white fibrin masses clogging the circulatory systems of the newly deceased since 2021.

Some speculate that the obstructions have something to do with COVID-19 or the COVID-19 vaccines, although no research exists to substantiate such a connection.

Dr. Ryan Cole, an Idaho pathologist who said he’s conducted “a lot” of autopsies in his career, said normal post-mortem blood clots are red and jelly-like.

“They’re not white and rubbery,” he said in a 2022 interview on “American Thought Leaders.”

Mr. Haviland sent questionnaires via Survey Monkey to funeral homes in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Of the 179 active embalmers who responded to the survey, 119 confirmed having seen the clots.

Mr. Haviland said that he designed the survey to be as unbiased as possible. Nowhere in the survey instructions nor in the survey questions are the words “Covid” or “Covid vaccines” ever mentioned.

Mr. Haviland said he only asked the embalmers if they saw the white fibrous clots, when they saw them, where on the body, and in what percentage of the bodies they embalmed.

Despite the fact that the survey never mentions the COVID vaccines, many of the 42 U.S. embalmers and 12 Canadian embalmers who responded to an optional “Comments” box at the end of the survey either implicated the COVID vaccines as the cause of the white fibrous clots, or they defended the vaccines while denying the existence of these unusual clots.

“The main consensus of embalmers is that these white, fibrous clots first appeared in the year 2021 and continue still to date. Embalmers see these clots in a significant percentage of corpses—up to 50 percent or more in some cases,” Mr. Haviland said.

The Epoch Times independently contacted the 1,700 embalmers and funeral directors surveyed by Mr. Haviland to corroborate the findings. Nine responded, saying they’ve encountered the white, fibrous masses, and five responded saying they haven’t.

“I knew from the get-go something was wrong,” Mrs. Jeffrey said.

In one case, she found a white, stringy mass literally “hanging out” of a deceased woman’s artery—”like eight inches long—all branched,” she told The Epoch Times.

“You could see the pathologist’s cut in it. So you can’t tell me it wasn’t there when they did the autopsy. I had to pull it out as the embalmer.”

Mrs. Jeffrey said her job became increasingly tricky trying to work around the obstructions. She decided to consult with her colleagues, but came up against an inexplicable “code of silence.”

More than 8,000 miles away from Mrs. Jeffrey’s home in Ontario, a New Zealand embalmer confirmed similar findings.

“For obvious reasons, I am most reluctant for my colleagues to know I am responding,” the embalmer said, on condition of anonymity, in an email to The Epoch Times.

“My workplace feels this is a conspiracy theory and is unwilling to engage in conversation. To say I was shut down when I tried to bring it up is an understatement.“

A funeral director in Colorado told The Epoch Times: “We are finding these white, fibrous blood clots in decedents of all ages.

“For example, one case was autopsied in their late 20s. The death was not related to clots (no family history), and this person was healthy and took care of themselves. I found two large white clumps in their lower arteries. These should not have been there, especially with the manner of death.”

The funeral director said before the embalming process, they’ve begun asking if the person had been vaccinated and boosted.

“Depending on the case, we are not finding these clots in non-vaccinated decedents, just normal blood clots and good drainage,” the director said.

“For the vaccinated ones, we are finding larger clots that are changing the consistency of the blood itself. We have never seen so much stringy blood before that really disrupts the drainage.”

The embalmer at New Zealand funeral home who was among the survey recipients and who reached out to The Epoch Times described how six months into his training, he saw his first “fibrin clot.”

The supervisor he had at the time said she “didn’t know what it was.”

“She has been an embalmer for about 20 years. I then asked my manager, who is also an embalmer, and he said he had seen them prior to COVID, and there was no link,” the embalmer said. Since the first discovery, he says he still sees the strange white masses “fairly regularly—in various sizes, with and without the fatty clots, and normal red blood clots.”

“I am not privy to the vaccination status of the deceased or their recent health issues beyond [the] cause of death, so I cannot say if there is a link between a recent COVID infection or vaccination,” the embalmer said.

He said he tried to discuss his findings with other colleagues—not to “stir up trouble,” but to learn what they were looking at.

However, “just like with any other unusual presentation on my table … there is a definable ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ feeling around the topic,” he said.

A funeral director at a high-volume mortuary in Texas said she has seen the clots in several embalming cases but needs to know more about them before commenting further.

Reads more here…

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Republican House lawmaker on Wednesday said that some lawmakers have been sleeping inside the U.S. Capitol due to fears of crime in the District of Columbia.

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) said that he and other unnamed lawmakers have slept in their offices at the Capitol because Washington, D.C., is “very dangerous” at night. He did not elaborate.

“I don’t want to walk back and forth from an apartment in D.C. at night or in the morning—early morning—to get to work,” Mr. Burlison told Todd Starnes on his radio program. “It’s not a safe environment.”

He made reference to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) having recently been carjacked in the district just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The Democratic lawmaker was unharmed but his car was stolen by three armed assailants, police said.

“It’s insane to even own a car in D.C. because wherever you park, it is going to cost you a fortune and it’s likely to get broken into and you’re likely to get carjacked,” Mr. Burlison said.

As for Mr. Cuellar, he was back at work in the Capitol on Tuesday morning. Recalling the incident on Sunday night, he said that the assailants appeared from “out of nowhere” and “pointed guns at me.”

“I looked at one with a gun, another with a gun, and I felt one behind me,” Mr. Cuellar said. “They said they wanted my car, and I said, ‘Sure.’ You got to keep calm under those situations, and they took off.”

The congressman was approached by three young black males in black clothing and black masks, according to a statement Mr. Cuellar gave to Capitol officials.

“According to the victim’s statements, the suspects ‘swarmed [the victim’s] vehicle, pointed firearms in his face and demanded the keys to the car.’ Thankfully there were not any injuries,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. “A witness told investigators three males in knit caps and ski masks were involved. The witness reported that the suspects were 5’10” black males who may have been around the age of 16 due to their build.”

Mr. Cuellar’s chief of staff Jacob Hochberg released a statement Monday night saying: “As Congressman Cuellar was parking his car this evening, 3 armed assailants approached the Congressman and stole his vehicle. Luckily, he was not harmed and is working with local law enforcement.”

Monday’s carjacking was the second assault on a member of Congress in the District of Columbia this year. In February, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was assaulted in her apartment building, suffering bruises while escaping serious injury. Her chief of staff said the attack did not appear to be politically motivated.

Mr. Cuellar thanked the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department for their work, saying the “message is very simple: You’ve got to support law enforcement.”

He said the attackers were masked, but he could still see that they were young. “They recovered the car, they recovered everything, but what really got me upset is they took my sushi,” he joked.

White House press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre called the carjacking “unacceptable” and said President Joe Biden spoke to the congressman today.

“We will always continue to speak out against any sort of violence. We’ve been consistent here in this administration,” she said. “We are certainly grateful and relieved that the congressman is unharmed, and we are thankful to law enforcement for having reacted so quickly.”

The 68-year-old Texas Democrat’s car was recovered about two miles away in the Anacostia neighborhood, according to a report from a local NBC affiliate station.

In late September, the capital city hit the 200 murder mark, according to officials, which drew a response from the D.C. Police Union on social media.

“We are still short 100s of cops and the responsible policing that used to address this has been prohibited by misguided legislation,” the union wrote on X, formerly Twitter, more than a week ago.

Earlier this year, Republicans criticized the leaders of Washington, D.C., during a House hearing, portraying the capital as a Democrat-run city that has long been mismanaged and fallen into a state of disarray due to left-wing bail reform rules. In May, they passed a measure that would overturn a so-called police reform package that was passed by the D.C. Council amid the nationwide riots and protests in 2020.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.