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Orange County Register

Los Angeles-area youth gymnastics coach under investigation for 2nd time in 5 years

October 11, 2023

A Los Angeles-based gymnastics coach is the target of an investigation into his alleged inappropriate behavior involving young athletes for the second time in five years, according to confidential U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Gymnastics documents obtained by the Southern California News Group.

The U.S. Center for SafeSport said it will investigate allegations by multiple parents that Colden Raisher, 35, has engaged in one-on-one texting with minor-aged girls he coaches at The Klub Gymnastics, a club in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake area, in violation of the U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Gymnastics policies, according to SafeSport, USA Gymnastics and club documents.

SafeSport’s decision to investigate Raisher comes after USA Gymnastics referred the case to the Center last month citing the nature of the allegations, according to SafeSport and USA Gymnastics emails.

U.S. Center for SafeSport officials declined parents’ request to implement restrictions that would have prevented Raisher from having unsupervised contact with minor-aged athletes in the gym and elsewhere.

Raisher, director of the club’s girls competition team, was placed on paid leave by The Klub Gymnastics on Thursday pending the results of the gym’s own investigation into the allegations against him, club owner Mike Eschenbrenner told parents in an email.

“We are moving the case forward to our investigation’s (SIC) unit,” Jennifer Smith, U.S. Center for SafeSport intake coordinator, said in a recent email to a Klub parent. “A decision was made to NOT implement any temporary measure at this time, to include a no contact directive.

“For this reason, Mr. Raisher will not be notified at this time that we are investigating him, what the allegations are or who is talking with the Center. If he has heard there’s an investigation and reaches out, other than being told there is an open case, he will not be given any information at this time. Meaning, while the case proceeds, he will not be told right now that you and your daughter have anything to do with it.”

A USA Gymnastics investigator also confirmed in an email to another Klub parent that SafeSport has taken over the Raisher case.

“Due to the nature of the allegations, this matter was referred to the U.S. Center for SafeSport (the Center), an independent non-profit organization with exclusive jurisdiction over allegations of sexual misconduct, including child sexual abuse, as well as the authority to have discretionary jurisdiction over any alleged violations of the SafeSport Code for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement,” April Clark, a USA Gymnastics investigator, wrote to the parent.

In addition to being a method to engage inappropriate conversations and transmit sexually explicit images, texting and other electronic communication are widely regarded as a way for predatory coaches or officials to groom young athletes for inappropriate relationships and contact.

The U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Gymnastics have “prevention policies” stating that all one-on-one electronic communications between adult participants and minor athletes must be open and transparent and include another adult participant, whether it be another adult coach or parent or participant. Those communications include texts, emails, phone or video calls, social media, direct messaging and gaming platforms.

The Klub Gymnastics has a similar policy, Eschenbrenner wrote in the email to parents.

“One or more of our kids have been engaging in one-on-one text messaging with other their coach(es),” Eschenbrenner said in the email. “One-on-one text messaging is when your child/gymnast has a texting/DM conversation without at least one parent or adult coach on the text chain. Let me be clear, this is a violation of SafeSport policies and a violation of our TKB Team Policies.”

It is not clear whether Eschenbrenner or Klub employees were aware of the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s decision to investigate Raisher.

Raisher and Eschenbrenner did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“I have not had the opportunity to review any possible text messages as of yet,” Russell Prince, an attorney for Raisher, wrote in an email to SCNG on this week. “However, it’s my understanding that the club requires the team coaches to provide their personal cell numbers to the families through the Team Handbook. It’s important to remember that if text messages do exist, they may not violate the one-on-one communication policy – and I am certain if any messages do exist they are not ‘grooming’ in nature. Certainly, I would expect that if inappropriate messages did exist the person who contacted you with their complaint would have provided them to you to elevate the nature of your reporting on it. If there are indeed text message exchanges between the family, athlete, and coach, they will be produced for review by either USA Gymnastics or the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

“It’s coach Raisher’s understanding that a complaint has been filed, but it remains unclear where that complaint was filed. We have reached out to the USAG and the Center to seek their assistance in determining who has jurisdiction of the matter and what investigator will be assigned to review any formal documentation related to the complaint. Finally, those text messages are confidential under federal statute and the release of the text messages publicly would likely be a proactive violation of the Code at the Center. It’s unfortunate coach Raisher can’t produce any potential messages outside of the formal investigation. It’s fundamentally unfair for the rules that govern sport to allow complainants the latitude to do as they wish in circumstances such as these, but disallows a coach the ability to publicly disseminate any exculpatory evidence that exists. In this case, that would likely be the text messages themselves.”

USA Gymnastics first received complaints from Klub Gymnastics parents about Raisher over the summer, according to USA Gymnastics documents.

A U.S. Center for SafeSport investigator has not been assigned to the Raisher case at this point, according to a SafeSport document. Such an assignment might not be made for up to 12 weeks, Smith wrote in an email to parents.

Raisher was suspended by USA Gymnastics in 2018 while he was being investigated by the national governing body for alleged inappropriate behavior. Under terms of the 2018 suspensions, Raisher was allowed to continue to coach but was prohibited from having any “unsupervised contact with minors.”

The Klub Gymnastics employees said at the time they were unaware of Raisher’s suspension or the allegations against him until they were questioned by SCNG about the investigation and sanction.

Raisher, in a brief interview with SCNG at the time, said he didn’t have time to go into the specifics of the allegations against him. The USA Gymnastics by-law his suspension is based on stated that his “continued participation could be detrimental to the sport or its reputation.”

“There was no physical or sexual abuse,” Raisher said. “I’ve never done anything questionable. I’m one of the good guys in the sport. USA Gymnastics is trying to cast a very wide net. They’re trying to catch a lot of bad guys. I agree with that. But now anybody can report anything.”

He said in 2018 that the allegations were made by officials at another gym. He previously worked at Golden State Gymnastics in Burbank.

“This has nothing to do with Safe Sport or anything sexual,” Raisher said. “I changed gyms a couple of months ago and they’re retaliating against me.”

Golden State said in a statement in 2018 that it “has not made any complaints against Colden Raisher.”

Raisher said in 2018 he would be willing to talk about his case and explain why he was innocent of the allegations when he had more time, but did not respond to subsequent requests from SCNG to do so.

A USA Gymnastics hearing panel in November 2018 chose not to extend Raisher’s suspension. “After four days of testimony, released a formal decision finding there was no reasonable cause to withhold or encumber Mr. Raisher’s professional membership,” Prince said in an email. “Mr. Raisher was asked to complete additional education regarding coaching techniques that USAG had just begun to use. The requirement was timely completed.

“That document is confidential under the rules.”

Raisher regularly posts coaching technique videos on YouTube that show him working with gymnasts.

“This is a very tough decision and one that we did not take lightly,” Eschenbrenner wrote in the email to parents last week. “There have been enough accusations that we feel this is the best and only direction to go in until we get more clarity.

“To be clear, Colden is innocent until proven guilty and yet I know it looks otherwise since he is on leave. For that reason, I am also asking for you to share your support for his return. You can do that by clearly communicating what you know of your daughter’s own one-on-one text messages especially if you find no issue.”

Vote now for the Southern California News Group Boys Athlete of the Week, Oct. 11

Vote now for the Southern California News Group Girls Athlete of the Week, Oct. 11

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Orange County Register

The Audible: Among Dodgers, Bruins and Trojans, who’s best defensively?

October 11, 2023

Jim Alexander: Welcome to the day-early Audible, which we’re posting Wednesday instead of Thursday while we know for sure the Dodgers still have any season left. All we know definitely is that they’ll be asking Lance Lynn to prevent a sweep by Arizona tonight, and the major-league leader in home runs allowed will be pitching in a park that’s said to be more amenable to the longball than usual if, as expected, the Diamondbacks decide to leave the Chase Field roof open.

As ugly as it’s been in Games 1 and 2, with Clayton Kershaw uncharacteristically shelled, Bobby Miller succumbing to rookie stage fright and Arizona’s aggressive hitters taking advantage, do you really want to watch the bottom of the first in Game 3 if you’re a Dodger fan? Maybe, instead, check the score at 6:25 or so and see if it’s safe to watch the rest of the game.

Mirjam Swanson: Sounds like a good strategy, if you’re a Dodger fan: Give it a minute or 20.

One thing’s for sure, Lynn won’t have rookie stage fright. One of the things that was appealing about him when he came to L.A. was his postseason experience, including three games he pitched against the Dodgers – remember his two scoreless innings to complete the Cardinals’ 13-inning victory over the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2013 NLCS or, four days later, his Game 4 performance: 5⅓ innings to earn the victory in another Cardinals win.

And as ugly as it’s been for the Dodgers the past couple games, I just can’t imagine this group getting swept in this first round. Right?

Right???

As determined as the Dodgers are to staying even keel, there’s gotta be some sense of pride or panic that’ll get their bats revved up, no?

And if they do, man, will that be disappointing. And you know what the conversation will immediately turn to…

Jim: The pressure’s already on Dave Roberts. During yesterday’s off-day availability, the Dodger manager did his presser via Zoom, and one questioner pressed him (no pun intended, but whatever) about why he wasn’t at the ballpark and why the team wasn’t doing a full-scale workout?

His answer to the latter made sense: “For some people they need to be there, they want to be there, and some guys I think it’s great they stay away. That’s why it’s optional. I think as much time as we spend together, some guys need to be away. And for me, I welcome that. There’s no cookie-cutter, one way to do things.”

Those who don’t have a close-up view of the day-to-day process probably are convinced that if you’re losing, you’re not grinding enough and need to do more, when in some cases it’s the exact opposite. And these guys all have their routines that have worked all season. Even with the situation as dire as it is, I’m not sure a radical change helps.

Which leads me to the other, scarier part of the question. When asked where he was on the day off, Roberts said he was in a meeting with the front office. That’s not uh-oh in the sense of his job’s on the line, necessarily (though some fans wouldn’t have an issue with that). It’s more uh-oh along the lines of, what exotic and risky strategies are Andrew Friedman and his quants going to suggest to the manager?

Maybe to use Michael Grove or (God forbid) Caleb Ferguson as an opener in front of Lynn tonight? Remember, before Game 5 of the Division Series in San Francisco two years ago, one of the front-office functionaries suggested using Corey Knebel as an opener in front of 20-game winner Julio Urias, for no other reason than to disrupt Gabe Kapler’s platooning. That was the same night the Dodgers used Kenley Jansen in the eighth and Max Scherzer in the ninth to close out the game and the series. Short-term gain, long-term pain; Urias had nothing in his first LCS start against the Braves, and Scherzer had a dead arm and couldn’t pitch the fateful Game 6, forcing Walker Buehler to go on short rest.

In other words, the more influence the front office has on strategy, the more there is that can go wrong. That’s the overthinking I discussed in Tuesday’s column. So unless the front-office functionaries have some sort of magical way of getting Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman going at the top of the lineup, I wouldn’t listen to them. Unfortunately, the manager is obligated to.

Mirjam: It could also be a more sensible lineup change – maybe Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernández starting? ’Cause they’ve got to do something to kickstart the offense. What’s the tally over their past five postseason games (all losses, as everyone knows)? Like, 4 for 38 with runners in scoring position? They’re not going to get perfect pitching, or even close to it, so they gotta start scoring.

They’re facing Brandon Pfaadt today, and while it won’t be his postseason debut, he’s not exactly a weathered, confident vet, having allowed seven hits and three runs in 2.2 innings during the Wild Card Series.

Seems doable.

Jim: Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen are momentum stoppers, for sure. Pfaadt’s splits are fairly neutral in his limited sample size (19 games, 18 starts) on the big-league level this season: An .858 OPS by right-handed batters against him, .862 by lefties. And Roberts did talk about getting Kiké in the lineup today: “I do love the at-bats Kiké’s been taking and kind of trying to figure out if changing the lineup a little bit as far as structure makes sense.” So we’ll see.

That said, Mookie’s been struggling for a while now, after we got spoiled by his unbelievable August (1.355 OPS, 11 homers, 30 RBI). But one at-bat might be all it takes for him to get it going again.

OK, on to other matters. USC gets the lion’s share of college football headlines in SoCal, deservedly so, but are we spending too little time on what UCLA’s Chip Kelly is (finally) building in Westwood? You saw the Bruins beat Washington State last Saturday. This week they’re at Oregon State – and not to make light of a brutal situation for the Cougars and Beavers, but if UCLA sweeps those two do they win the Pac-2 championship?

Anyway, what’s your take on what you saw from the Bruins?

Mirjam: My take? No one has to climb atop a soap box to defend UCLA’s defense. Because the Bruins’ defense is LEGIT. And it has to be, because they have provided some cover for Dante Moore’s inevitable growing pains at QB.

Defense can seem boring, right? We like scoring! We like shootouts! That’s the exciting stuff.

But the type of defense UCLA is playing IS exciting. You could just feel how frustrated QB Cam Ward and Washington State were getting, as they continually got stuffed and stymied – and if not that, intercepted or stripped.

Ward hadn’t thrown a pick all season, 161 attempts altogether. The Bruins intercepted him twice – and forced two fumbles. They held a Cougars offense that came in having scored more than 30 points every game to just one offensive touchdown in Saturday’s game, a 25-17 UCLA win at the Rose Bowl.

Nationally, the Bruins are allowing just 3.74 yards per play, fewer than anyone in the nation. And they’ve given up only five offensive touchdowns in five games – second-fewest in the the nation.

Their success on that side of the ball is all the more stark considering all the problems we’re seeing on defense across town – though those issues are mostly just manufactured by the media, of course.

Jim: D’Anton Lynn for Coordinator of the Year. The Bruins’ defensive coordinator and son of former Chargers’ head coach Anthony Lynn has radically transformed that unit, so it is possible. And it is another testament to the benefits of adding fresh eyes and fresh ideas to your coaching staff.

See where I’m going with this?

Across town, Alex Grinch is embattled, again, as the Trojans’ defense alternates between great plays and missed assignments/blown coverages/whiffed tackles. And the impassioned (if implied) defense of his buddy by head coach Lincoln Riley is sounding increasingly hollow. Here’s Riley after Monday’s practice, complaining that, yes, it’s a media narrative that the Trojans’ defense is below par:

Asked Lincoln Riley about perception of the defense and he delivered a very impassioned answer in which he said, basically, the media “had their mind made up” that at any sign of adversity, a change would need to be made.

Pretty interesting watch for #USC fans: pic.twitter.com/u186Ze7BHL

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) October 11, 2023

It sounds so disingenuous, Riley’s take that, essentially, all these great things are going on that those of us on the outside don’t see or don’t recognize or can’t possibly understand. (That old “you never played the game” shibboleth isn’t overt, but it’s lurking just below the surface.)

But you don’t have to have played the game to recognize that, for example, blowing a 48-21 lead in the fourth quarter and being within an onside kick of having to go to overtime at Colorado is a failure. And you don’t have to have played the game to understand that what we’re seeing from the Trojans’ defense right now isn’t going to work against Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. or Oregon’s Bo Nix, just to name two.

Having to outscore people every time out isn’t sustainable. (Come to think of it, that’s the same lesson the Dodgers have been learning the last few days.)

Mirjam: Disingenuous is one way to put it.

This is Emperor’s Got No Clothes territory: You know how UCLA is giving up a few blades of grass every play? The Trojans are allowing 5.72 yards per play. You know how the Bruins have allowed just five offensive TDs all season? USC’s allowed 21.

And the Trojans have faced second- or third-string QBs among their first six opponents, who are collectively 10-24. Their next six opponents are, at this point, 26-7.

But don’t believe your eyes, believe Riley – whose own defense needs work, too.

Not his defense on the field, but his defensive posturing. Letting some well-founded criticism so clearly get under his skin – and, in turn, his players’ skin – seems misguided.

He’s implied Grinch was calling the right plays but that his players weren’t tackling as well as they do in practice (which, only the Trojans know – because their practices are closed).

But why not issue a healthy challenge to his players instead of throwing them, underhandedly, under the bus?

Vote now for the Southern California News Group Boys Athlete of the Week, Oct. 11

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Why not call them out, say it aloud: You can do better, I know you can! If I was a player, I’d rather that than be subtweeted in a news conference while my boss attempts to keep pressure off him and his coaching staff?

Riley’s comment about the media’s response “the first second there was any adversity this year”? I’m looking at HIS response.

But! They do have Caleb Williams, and as long as they have him, they might actually be able to outscore everyone all season.

The Dodgers, though, they’ll need to score more than two runs tonight.

Orange County Register

New Texas-style barbecue joint opening in Costa Mesa

October 11, 2023

Texas-style barbecue’s popularity in O.C. shows no signs of slowing down. The latest contender is Holé Smokes. Founded by Ian Bason, a second-generation restaurateur who leads the day-to-day operations at his family’s Mexican restaurant, Holé Molé, and chef Dan Ramon, a Texas native and BBQ enthusiast, the Costa Mesa eatery will officially open Thursday, Oct 12.

“After more than a year filled with smoke, patience and a lot of love, Holé Smokes is bringing the heart and soul of Texas barbecue to Orange County,” Bason said in a written statement. “This venture has been an eye-opening experience in restaurant ownership and a true testament to the strength of family, and although there were more setbacks and trials than anticipated, we know the wait will be well worth it.”

Hungry? Sign up for The Eat Index, our weekly food newsletter, and find out where to eat and get the latest restaurant happenings in Orange County. Subscribe here.

The inaugural menu will feature brisket, tri tip, pulled pork, smoked shrimp, St. Louis-style ribs and chicken, all of which can be purchased per plate (with one or two sides) or by the half pound. Plates come with such barbecue staple sides as mac and cheese, broccoli slaw, potato salad, beans, chips and queso, and fries.

Holé Smokes also prepares brisket and pulled-pork sandwiches, as well as smashburgers.

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All meats are smoked on the premises using pecan and oak logs. The restaurant will seat 50 guests inside, 18 at the expansive bar and 30 on the patio. It opens in the same complex as Doria’s Haus of Pizza and Green Chilis.

Holé Smokes will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Find it: 1500 Adams Ave., Unit 100B in Costa Mesa; holesmokes.com

Orange County Register

Albertsons merger could kill 5,750 Southern California jobs; bill to pay severance gets vetoed

October 11, 2023

By Alejandra Reyes-Velarde | CalMatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have given grocery store workers who are laid off as a result of a merger or acquisition a week of severance pay for every year of their service.

The veto, announced Sunday night, comes after the governor signed two other grocery worker protection bills. Advocates have been pushing for the measures since last fall when Kroger and Albertsons announced plans for a massive merger. The $24.6 billion deal involving two of the largest grocery chains in the United States faces antitrust scrutiny but, if approved, it could happen in early 2024.

Newsom said he vetoed the bill — Senate Bill 725 — because other laws already protect these workers.

He cited the state’s Grocery Worker Retention law, which since 2016 has required companies that merge or buy another grocer to retain existing workers for at least 90 days, and the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies with 100 or more workers to give them 60 days notice before mass layoffs.

He also noted that affected workers could tap unemployment insurance.

“While the goal of limiting the disruptions caused by grocery mergers and acquisitions … is laudable, existing law already provides protections for displaced workers,” he said. “The additional obligations in this bill are unduly prescriptive and overly burdensome.”

California could be among the states most affected by a Kroger and Albertsons merger.

Kroger operates 233 stores under the Ralphs, Food 4 Less and Foods Co brands in California, and Albertsons operates 579 stores under the Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and Pavilions names, according to a report by the Los Angeles research group, Economic Roundtable.

Counting merger’s costs

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, 115 of 159 Albertsons stores are located within two miles of a Kroger store. The merger could result in 5,750 jobs lost in the Los Angeles region, according to the report.

The union that represents many California grocery workers is raising alarms about the potential layoffs. The United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council said in a statement:

“A merger between these two companies could result in large-scale layoffs for workers, grocery stores closing down, particularly in food deserts and rural areas, increasing food costs, and a reduction in a variety of products, including seasonal, organic, and climate-friendly plant-based foods for consumers,”

The companies denied that, saying no “frontline” employees would lose their jobs, because the companies plan to sell hundreds of stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, which has agreed to maintain store jobs and bargaining agreements and may use the Albertsons name in California.

Grocery store workers rallied Thursday, Oct. 5, to support a bill that would have paid severance to grocery workers laid off because of mergers or acquisitions. Photo courtesy of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Photo courtesy of the United Food and Commercial Workers union

Some grocery workers said they would feel more secure with legal protections.

Judy Wood, a cake decorator at Albertsons who has worked in grocery stores for 36 years, said she feels let down by Newsom’s veto.

“We were deemed essential workers during the pandemic and we stood behind our governor at that time,” she said.

“We kept the food going to people if they needed it and we stood on those frontlines. We were subjected to COVID all the time. We were there for him during that time … but he’s not there for us now.”

Wood, 65, said she’s nearing retirement and plans to leave California because living here is hard on her $21.02 hourly pay.

‘Essential heroes’

State Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, the Los Angeles Democrat who authored SB 725, said the governor’s veto is disappointing.

“Without our bill, it leaves essential workers vulnerable to a potential merger, as a vast majority of these workers are already struggling to make ends meet for their families,” she said.

Hours before the veto, the United Food and Commercial Workers praised Newsom for signing two companion bills to strengthen protections of grocery store workers.

Assembly Bill 853 will require grocery or drug store companies to notify the state attorney general 180 days before finalizing a proposed merger or acquisition, and to submit an impact analysis of the deal. The analysis would include effects on community “food deserts,” prices, the supply of experienced grocery workers, as well as unemployment, wages and benefits.

“Grocery workers have seen the effects of mergers and acquisitions in the industry — from job loss to centers of their communities going dark,” said Todd Walters, president, UFCW Local 135 in a statement. “AB 853 will give California’s decision makers the information needed to know just how proposed mergers in the grocery and drug-retail industries will affect their lives and can make an informed decision on the impact of mergers on our state.”

AB 647 will strengthen the state’s existing Grocery Worker Retention Law, expanding its 90-day retention provision to include warehouse workers. And it includes stronger enforcement mechanisms, including giving grocers 33 days to resolve a violation before a worker can sue.

Mark Ramos, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, said he’s grateful Newsom signed the two bills but worries the veto will mean displaced workers won’t have enough money if the merger goes through.

Noting that Newsom once called grocery workers essential heroes, he added, “It makes me wonder, are heroes disposable?”

Orange County Register

What was Hamas thinking? For over three decades, it has had the same brutal idea of victory

October 11, 2023

By JOSEPH KRAUSS

JERUSALEM — In the three and a half decades since it began as an underground militant group, Hamas has pursued a consistently violent strategy aimed at rolling back Israeli rule — and it has made steady progress despite bringing enormous suffering to both sides of the conflict.

But its stunning incursion into Israel over the weekend marks its deadliest gambit yet, and the already unprecedented response from Israel threatens to bring an end to its 16-year rule over the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s retaliation for the Hamas assault, in which over 1,200 people were killed in Israel and dozens dragged into Gaza as hostages, will likely bring a far greater magnitude of death and destruction to Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians have nowhere to flee and where 1,100 have already been killed.

Hamas officials say they are prepared for any scenario, including a drawn-out war, and that allies like Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah will join the battle if Israel goes too far.

“I don’t think anyone really knows what the endgame is at the moment,” said Tahani Mustafa, a Palestinian analyst at the Crisis Group, an international think tank. But given the amount of planning involved in the assault, “it’s difficult to imagine they haven’t tried to strategize every possible scenario.”

FILE – Thousands of Palestinans affiliated with the militant Muslim group Hamas raise their hands as they vow to continue its holy war against Israel and to boycott the Jan. 20th Palestinian elections during a rally in Gaza City, Dec. 16, 1995. The gathering marked the eighth anniversary of Hamas. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)

FILE – An Israeli soldier stands next to a Hamas propaganda poster seized during recent raids, at an Israeli army base in Hebron, March 7, 1996. (AP Photo/ Jacqueline Arzt, File)

FILE – A group of hooded Palestinian militants from the Islamic group Hamas, wearing fake explosives on their waist and black headbands reading “Death for the sake of God,” march together during a demonstration in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon Friday, April 13, 2001. Hundreds of Palestinians took part in the demonstration at the Buss refugee camp in Tyre to support the Palestinian uprising. (AP Photo/Mohamed Zatari, File)

FILE – Israelis run to help medics and bystanders administering medical care to those injured when a suicide bomber, later claimed by Hamas, blew himself up near a Tel Aviv shopping center, March 4, 1996. (AP Photo/Motti Kimchi, File)

FILE – Palestinian militants from Hamas ride on a truck with their weapons during the funeral of militant Emad Abu Kados who was killed during clashes with Fatah gunmen in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, June 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa, File)

FILE – Palestinians from the Hamouda family rest in the rubble of their home following Israeli strikes intended for Hamas leaders, of east Jebaliya, Jan. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

FILE – Palestinian boys, wearing green ribbons on their heads symbolizing support of Hamas, brandish plastic rifles, as they march in the streets of the West Bank town of Nablus, May 21, 2001. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh, File)

FILE – Masked Islamic activists burn an Israeli flag at a mass rally held, Nov. 26, 1994, in Gaza City held a week after Palestinian policemen and Hamas supporters shot at each other in Gaza. (AP Photo/Nabil Judah, File)

FILE – A Palestinian boy holds a Hamas flag over a destroyed house in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. The Hamas militant group has issued its first statement, Monday, on losses suffered during Israel’s latest offensive in the Gaza Strip, stating that the group lost 48 fighters, and the Health Ministry says more than 1,200 Palestinians died in the fighting. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa, File)

FILE – Palestinians gather in the rubble of a house destroyed in an explosion in Gaza City, early Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Israeli aircraft blasted the house and killed seven people in Gaza City early Wednesday, during a high-level meeting of Hamas commanders, Palestinians and the military said, as Israeli forces expanded their offensive in the southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)

FILE – Palestinian relatives of Hamas militant Abdul Halem al-Fayomi, react at the family house during his funeral in Gaza City, April 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

FILE – A Palestinian man reacts over the bodies of members of the security forces of Hamas at the site of an Israeli missile strike at the security headquarters in Gaza City, Dec. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Fadi Adwan, File)

FILE – An injured Palestinian is helped from the rubble following an Israeli missile strike in the Hamas-ruled territory of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Hatem Omar, File)

FILE – A Palestinian woman, who had ten relatives killed near a United Nations school, weeps during their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 7, 2009, while Israeli forces paused their assault on Hamas. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa, File)

FILE – Israeli soldiers carry a Palestinian youth by the hands and feet as they arrest him on suspicion of stone throwing during clashes near the West Bank town of Ramallah which erupted following the funeral of Hamas bombmaker Mohiyedine Sharif, April 2, 1998. (AP Photo/Bryan BacBurney, File)

FILE – Palestinian supporters of the Islamic Hamas wave green Islamic flags during a pre-election rally in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Jan. 23, 2006. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File)

FILE – Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh speaks to the media after his meeting with Egyptian officials at the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Gaza City, Feb. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)

FILE – Palestinian Fatah-loyalist security forces confront Hamas supporters as they try to prevent them from holding a rally in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Dec. 15, 2006. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File)

FILE – Palestinian mourners carry the coffin of suspected Hamas member Issa Shoukai killed by a bomb he was allegedly preparing in Bethlehem, July 16, 1997. (AP Photo/Greg Marinovich, File)

FILE – A Hamas flag, top, and a Palestinian flag, flutter during sundown in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, April 15, 2010. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE – A man walks down a destroyed street in the Salahaddin in Rafah, southern Gaza strip following Israeli strikes on Hamas targets, Jan. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

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Shaul Shay, an Israeli researcher and retired colonel who served in military intelligence, said Hamas “miscalculated” Israel’s response and now faces a far worse conflict than it had anticipated.

“I hope and I believe that Israel will not stop until Hamas has been defeated in the Gaza Strip, and I don’t think that this was their expectation before the operation,” Shay said of Hamas.

FROM UPSTART INSURGENCE TO PROTO-STATE

From its establishment in the late 1980s, on the eve of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Hamas has been committed to armed struggle and the destruction of Israel. At the height of the peace process in the 1990s, it launched scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. The violence only intensified with the breakdown in peace talks and the far deadlier second Palestinian uprising in 2000.

Hamas attacks were met with massive Israeli military incursions into the occupied West Bank and Gaza that exacted a far heavier death toll on Palestinians. But as the violence wound down in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and some 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza, while maintaining tight control over access to the enclave by land, air and sea.

Hamas claimed the withdrawal as vindication for its approach, and the following year it won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections. In 2007, after bitter infighting, it violently seized Gaza from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

Over the next 16 years, through four wars and countless smaller battles with Israel that rained devastation upon Gaza, Hamas only grew more powerful. Each time it had more rockets that traveled farther. Each time its top leaders survived, securing a cease-fire and the gradual easing of a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. In the meantime, it built a government — including a police force, ministries and border terminals with metal detectors and passport control.

And what of the thousands of Palestinians killed, the flattened apartment blocks, the crumbling infrastructure, the suffocating travel restrictions, the countless dreams deferred in Gaza, a 40-kilometer (25-mile) coastal strip sandwiched between Israel and Egypt?

Hamas blamed Israel, as did many Palestinians. The Hamas government has seen only sporadic protests over the years and has quickly and violently suppressed them.

NEGOTIATIONS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS

If Hamas’ armed struggle against Israel looks like a failure — or much worse — consider the alternative.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank recognized Israel and renounced armed struggle over three decades ago, hoping it would lead to a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

But the talks repeatedly broke down, partly because of Hamas’ violence but also because of Israel’s relentless expansion of settlements, now home to more than a half million Israelis. There have been no serious peace talks in well over a decade, and the Palestinian Authority has become little more than an administrative body in the 40% of the occupied West Bank where it is allowed to operate.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an 87-year-old moderate, has been powerless to stop settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions or the unraveling of longstanding arrangements around a sensitive Jerusalem holy site. He has been sidelined during every Gaza war — including this one — and the Palestinian Authority is widely seen as a corrupt accomplice to the occupation.

“Palestinians have tried everything from elections to boycotts to the (International Criminal Court) to engaging in a supposed peace process,” said Mustafa, of the Crisis Group. “You’ve had one of the most conciliatory leaderships in the entire history of the Palestinian national movement, and that still hasn’t been enough.”

Still, the scale of last weekend’s attack takes Hamas’ approach into uncharted territory.

“It is unclear what Hamas’ endgame is beyond either fighting to the death or liberating Palestine,” said Hugh Lovatt, a Mideast expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The latest attack marks a “complete strategic rupture,” he said.

“Despite conducting attacks against civilians in the past and fighting previous wars against Israel, (Hamas) did also simultaneously engage in political tracks,” including negotiations with Abbas’ Fatah movement and even tacit coordination with Israel, Lovatt said.

“Now it appears to have fully embraced open-ended violence as its long-term strategic choice.”

FOR ISRAEL, VICTORY COULD AGAIN PROVE ELUSIVE

Israel appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive in Gaza. It could reoccupy the territory and try to uproot Hamas, in what would surely be a long and bloody counterinsurgency. But even that might just drive the group — which is also present in Lebanon and the West Bank — back underground.

And Hamas has a horrifying trump card that could give Israel pause.

Hamas and the more radical Islamic Jihad militant group are holding some 150 men, women and children who were captured and dragged into Gaza. Hamas’ armed wing claims some have already been killed in Israeli strikes and has threatened to kill captives if Israel attacks Palestinian civilians without warning.

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Hamas may succeed — as it has in the past — at trading them for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in a lopsided deal that Palestinians would see as a triumph and Israelis as agony.

Israel has faced virtually no calls for restraint in the wake of the Hamas attack, but that could change if the war drags on.

In the end, the two sides could find themselves returning to the status quo: An internationally mediated truce, with Hamas ruling over a devastated and aid-dependent Gaza, and Israel redoubling security along its frontier.

That too, for Hamas at least, would look like a victory.

Orange County Register

As strikes devastate Gaza, Israel forms unity government to oversee war sparked by Hamas attack

October 11, 2023

By JOSEPH KRAUSS and WAFAA SHURAFA

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with a top political rival on Wednesday to create a war-time Cabinet overseeing the fight to avenge a stunning weekend attack by Hamas militants. In the sealed-off Gaza Strip ruled by Hamas, Palestinian suffering mounted as Israeli bombardment demolished neighborhoods and the only power plant ran out of fuel.

The new Cabinet establishes a degree of unity after years of bitterly divisive politics, and as the Israeli military appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive into Gaza. The war has already claimed at least 2,300 lives on both sides.

The Israeli government is under intense public pressure to topple Hamas after its militants stormed through a border fence Saturday and massacred hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival.

Militants in Gaza are holding an estimated 150 people taken hostage from Israel — soldiers, men, women, children and older adults — and they have fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past five days.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations, killing hundreds and taking captives. Palestinian health officials reported hundreds of deaths from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Israelis take cover from incoming rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mourners attend the funeral of May Naim, 24, during her funeral in Gan Haim, central Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Naim and at least 260 more Israelis were killed by Hamas militants on Saturday at a rave near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip’s separation fence with Israel as the militant Hamas rulers of the territory carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack that killed over 1,000 Israelis. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A Palestinian walks through the destruction by Israeli bombing in Gaza City on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

FILE – Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, speaks during a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos, at the Greek Ministry of Defence, in Athens, Greece, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Varaklas, File)

Mourners gather around the grave of May Naim, 24, during her funeral in Gan Haim, central Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Naim and at least 260 more Israelis were killed by Hamas militants on Saturday at a rave near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip’s separation fence with Israel as the militant Hamas rulers of the territory carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack that killed over 1,000 Israelis. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations, killing hundreds and taking captives. Palestinian health officials reported hundreds of deaths from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

A person injured in an Israeli bombing is brought to a hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Smoke rises during an Israeli strike on Gaza City on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Israelis take cover from the incoming rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fired a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip, in a position a near the Israel Gaza border, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Erik Marmor)

Destruction from Israeli aerial bombardment is seen in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations, killing hundreds and taking captives. Palestinian health officials reported hundreds of deaths from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Israeli soldier drive a tank to a staging area near the border with Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says Israeli shelling of southern Lebanese villages has wounded three civilians and damaged about 10 homes. The agency said the shelling hit the villages of Marwaheen and Duhaira. The Israeli shelling came after the militant Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli army position. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A view of the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Jabalia, Gaza strip, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Israel has launched intense airstrikes in Gaza after the territory’s militant rulers carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel Saturday, killing hundreds of people and taking captives. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the airstrikes. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Palestinians search for survivors of Israeli aerial bombing on Jabaliya, near Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct.11, 2023 (AP Photo/Mohammad Al Masri)

Israeli army arrives at Sderot, a town close to the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct.11, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli walks past a digger clearing the rubble of a police station overrun by Hamas militants last Saturday in Sderot, a town close to the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct.11, 2023. P Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fired a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip, in a position a near the Israel Gaza border, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Erik Marmor)

Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Israel has launched intense airstrikes in Gaza after the territory’s militant rulers carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel Saturday, killing over 1000 people and taking captives. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the airstrikes. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

A bullet-shuttered window of the entrance to a kindergarten is seen in Kibbutz Be’eri on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. The kibbutz was overrun by Hamas militants from Neraby Gaza Strip Saturday when they killed and captured many Israelis. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli soldier walks by a house destroyed by Hamas militants in Kibbutz Be’eri on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. The kibbutz was overrun by Hamas militants from Neraby Gaza Strip Saturday when they killed and captured many Israelis. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli tanks move near the Israeli Gaza border, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Erik Marmor)

Itzik and Miriam Shafir, center and background, mourn during their son’s funeral, Dor Shafir, at the cemetery in Modiin Maccabim, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Dor Shafir, 30, and his girlfriend, Savion Kiper, 31, were killed at the music festival in Southern Israel that was attacked by Hamas militants. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Itzik and Miriam Shafir, center, mourn during their son’s funeral, Dor Shafir, at the cemetery in Modiin Maccabim, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Dor Shafir, 30, and his girlfriend, Savion Kiper, 31, were killed at the music festival in Southern Israel that was attacked by Hamas militants. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

An Israeli soldier walks past a house destroyed by Hamas militants in Kibbutz Be’eri on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. The kibbutz was overrun by Hamas militants from Neraby Gaza Strip Saturday when they killed and captured many Israelis. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli tanks are stationed near the border with Lebanon Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israelis look at the damage caused by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli soldiers work on a tank near the Israeli Gaza border, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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The Cabinet, which will focus only on issues of war, will be led by Netanyahu, Benny Gantz — a senior opposition figure and former defense minister — and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. A former chief of a staff and another government minister were named as “observer” members.

Still, Israel’s political divisions remain. The country’s chief opposition leader, Yair Lapid, was invited to join the Cabinet but did not immediately respond to the offer. It appeared that the rest of Netanyahu’s existing government partners, a collection of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, would remain in place to handle non-war issues.

Israel’s increasingly destructive airstrikes in Gaza have flattened entire city blocks and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath debris. A ground offensive in Gaza, whose 2.3 million residents are densely packed into a tiny, coastal strip, would likely result in a surge of casualties for fighters on both sides.

Hamas launched a fresh barrage of rockets into Israel on Wednesday aimed at the southern town of Ashkelon.

Some 250,000 people have fled their homes in Gaza, most crowding into U.N. schools. Others sought the shrinking number of safe neighborhoods in the strip of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

After nightfall, Palestinians were plunged into pitch blackness in large parts of Gaza City and elsewhere after the territory’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down Wednesday. Only a few lights from private generators still glowed.

Israel on Sunday halted the entry of food, water, fuel and medicine into the territory. The sole remaining crossing from Egypt was shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit nearby.

The Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, only has enough fuel to keep power on for three days, said Matthias Kannes, a Gaza-based official for Doctors Without Borders. The group said the two hospitals it runs in Gaza were running out of surgical equipment, antibiotics, fuel and other supplies. “We consumed three weeks worth of emergency stock in three days,” Kannes said.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a reconstructive surgeon at al-Shifa said he had 50 patients waiting to go to the operating room as more critical wounded are treated. “We’re already beyond the capacity of the system to cope,” he said. The health system “has the rest of the week before it collapses, not just because of the diesel. All supplies are running short.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said other hospitals’ generators will run out in five days. Residential buildings, unable to store as much diesel, likely will go dark sooner.

Egypt and international groups have been calling for humanitarian corridors to get aid into Gaza. Convoys stood loaded with fuel and food Wednesday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, but were unable to enter Gaza, an Egyptian security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

In Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, rescue workers and civilians carried men covered with blood and soot towards ambulances after strikes toppled buildings. Streets were left blanketed with metal, chunks of concrete and thick dust.

Medical teams and rescuers struggled to enter other areas where roads were too destroyed, including Gaza City’s al-Karama district, where a “large number” were killed or wounded, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. Strikes have killed at least four Red Crescent paramedics, the organization said.

The risk of the war spreading was evident Wednesday after the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military position and claimed to have killed and wounded troops.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack but did not comment on possible casualties. The Israeli army shelled the area in southern Lebanon where the attack was launched.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned other countries and armed groups against entering the war. The U.S. is already rushing munitions and military equipment to Israel and has deployed a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean as deterrence.

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked a village south of Nablus, opening fire on Palestinians and killing three, the territory’s health ministry said. More than two dozen Palestinians have died in fighting in the West Bank since the weekend.

Israel has mobilized 360,000 reservists, massed additional forces near Gaza and evacuated tens of thousands of residents from nearby communities.

Toppling Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, would likely require prolonged ground fighting and reoccupying Gaza, at least temporarily. Even then, Hamas has a long history of operating as an underground insurgency in areas controlled by Israel.

Hamas said it launched its attack Saturday because Palestinians’ suffering had become intolerable under unending Israeli military occupation and increasing settlements in the West Bank and a 16-year-long blockade in Gaza.

Shock, grief and demands for vengeance against Hamas are running high in Israel. Past conflicts with Hamas included heavy bombardments of Gaza but ended with the group still in power. Netanyahu said this week that Israel is committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

In a new tactic, Israel is warning civilians to evacuate whole Gaza neighborhoods, rather than just individual buildings, then levelling large swaths in waves of airstrikes.

Israel’s tone has changed as well. In past conflicts, its military insisted on the precision of strikes in Gaza, trying to ward off criticism over civilian deaths. This time, military briefings emphasize the destruction being wreaked.

“We will not allow a reality in which Israeli children are murdered,” Defense Minister Gallant said in a meeting with soldiers near the southern border on Tuesday. “I have removed every restriction — we will eliminate anyone who fights us, and use every measure at our disposal.”

Even with the evacuation warnings, Palestinians say some are unable to escape or have nowhere to go, and that entire families have been crushed under rubble.

Other times, strikes come with no warning at all, survivors say.

“There was no warning or anything,” said Hashem Abu Manea, 58, who lost his 15-year-old daughter, Joanna, when a strike late Tuesday leveled his home in Gaza City. “We were sitting there as civilians, dressed like anyone else.”

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