DAY 31 ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
"Silence in the face of evil, is in itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak it, is to speak. Not to act, is to act"
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
For several days now I have been trying to write an update on the situation here in Israel, but how to start? How to express the shock? The horror? The atrocities?
On the morning of Shabbat, October 7, around 3000 heavily armed, amphetamine-crazed Hamas operatives broke through about 28 places in the Gaza border fence and invaded Israeli towns and settlements along the border region killing, dismembering, raping, and torturing anyone they could find, men, women, children and even babies. They burned whole families alive in their homes. They decapitated babies, they cut pregnant women open in front of their families, and they raped women so viciously they broke their pelvises. They cut off the hands and feet of children while still alive. These things they did while laughing and even sitting down to eat the food of their victims. Simultaneously Hamas also fired some 3200 rockets into Israel that day.
Words cannot convey the evil. If you were to watch the videos that have been released, they will haunt you forever. That Black Sabbath morning these depraved monsters killed 1400 Israelis, and wounded 4229 more, most of them unarmed civilians. Around 240 of the dead were young people attending a rave music festival in the desert. Hamas also took an unknown number of hostages back into Gaza. The official figure stands at 242 hostages with 4 released and one rescued by the IDF, but there are still tens of others still unaccounted for. All these atrocities were committed in the name of Allah!
It is all a bit surreal, like living in an apocalyptic movie. But, sadly, it is all too real. Funerals are taking place and families are mourning. The whole nation is mourning with them. Others wait anxiously for news, any news, of their missing loved ones. Sirens are blaring and people are running for shelter as thousands of rockets and missiles pepper the southern regions including the large cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beer Sheva and Tel Aviv. Young, and not so young, men and women have taken up arms and are fighting for their lives, and ours. Their wives, husbands and children are trying to cope alone with the separation, the anxiety while still taking care of the practicalities of life. About 500,000 Israelis are internally displaced, leaving their homes, their crops and businesses, their farm animals and, and in some cases, pets, and all their possessions. Those who are not with family or friends are being housed in the safer areas, in the hotels now emptied of tourists. For 31 days now we have been pummeled with rockets and missiles, round after round. We are all wondering what the future will hold for our nation, our families, our children, ourselves, and indeed the world.
I do not forget, either, the population of Gaza. Israel has no desire or interest in killing any civilian in Gaza. Our war is against Hamas, not the people of Gaza. Millions of leaflets in Arabic were dropped on Gaza city warning all the inhabitants to go to the south of the Strip. Around 2/3 of the inhabitants of the city, some 600,000 people, have done so but the other 300,000 remain. Some of those did try to leave but were stopped by Hamas' roadblocks and they were even fired upon by Hamas to force them to remain. Hamas is using the Palestinian population as human shields. Sadly many of these are likely to be caught in the crossfire in the coming days. Hamas has located its military installations under schools, hospitals and residential buildings. Its main center of operations is located under the largest hospital in Gaza, the Shifa Hospital, in which are sheltering not only the sick and injured, but many of the local refugees too.
The situation of the Gaza population is dire and the world blames Israel, but the fault lies wholly with Hamas. Instead of building homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure with all the millions of dollars of aid it has received (It could have been the Dubai of the Mediterranean), it has stolen all this money from the people to build hundreds of kilometers of concrete-lined tunnels, stockpiled weapons and ammunition, oil and food for their own use towards their sole goal which is to destroy Israel. They do not care for their own people, and I suspect a sizeable proportion of the people want to see them destroyed as much as we do, though of course they cannot openly say so.
It astounds me that the world is still largely unconcerned about what is happening here. What is it going to take for everyone to wake up? This war between Israel and Hamas, may seem far away from you, but what happened here may happen in your town tomorrow, in your streets and to your children, if radical Islamic fundamentalism is not somehow stopped. They already have operatives in every country and sleeper cells are right now preparing their attacks.
Below are some excerpts from the Hamas Charter. The full text, translated into English, can be seen on https://www.memri.org/reports/covenant-islamic-resistance-movement-%E2%80%93-hamas
""The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood movement is a global organization and is the largest of the Islamic movements in modern times..... (Article 2)
Muslims who adopt the way of the Islamic Resistance Movement are found in all countries of the world, and act to support [the movement], to adopt its positions and to reinforce its jihad. Therefore, it is a world movement, and it is qualified for this [role] owing to the clarity of its ideology, the loftiness of its purpose and the exaltedness of its goals. It is on this basis that it should be regarded and evaluated; it is on this basis that its role should be recognized... (Article 7)
The ultimate goal of Hamas and all the other radical, Islamic movements, such as Hezbollah, the Islamic Jihad, the Houthis in Yemen, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood, is Jihad and world domination based on the principles of the Koran. Hamas' charter begins by quoting the Koran thus:
"You are the best nation that has been brought out for mankind. You command good and forbid evil and believe in Allah. If only the people of the Book [i.e., Jews and Christians] had believed, it would have been well for them. Some of them believe, but most of them are iniquitous. They will never be able to do you serious harm, they will only be an annoyance. If they fight you, they will turn their backs and flee, and will not be succored. Humiliation is their lot wherever they may be, except where they are saved from it by a bond with Allah or by a bond with men. They incurred upon themselves Allah's wrath, and wretchedness is their lot, because they denied Allah's signs and wrongfully killed the prophets, and because they disobeyed and transgressed." (Koran, 3:110-112).
The very word "Hamas" in Hebrew means 'violence'. Psalm 11: 5 says this,
The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked, those who love violence,
he hates with a passion.
The word translated here as 'violence' is the Hebrew word, 'hamas'.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying all Muslims are evil or violent but there is at the heart of Islam a core of hatred and violence against the 'other', namely the Christian and the Jew, as the quote from the Koran above illustrates.
When news of the events of October 7 began to reach the world, there was an outpouring of sympathy and support for Israel the scale of which I had never seen before. But sadly, once Israel began to respond, all too quickly that support has waned and is now morphing into criticism, opposition and antisemitism on a scale not seen since the Third Reich.
I think that part of the problem here is that the Western mind just cannot conceive of evil of this kind. Western leaders still persist in thinking that we can negotiate peace with Hamas-led Palestinians. They still think that deep down these people want peace. They think they care about their people and their own children. They do not. Mothers rejoice when their sons and daughters go out to kill Jews and are killed as a result. They call them martyrs. Kindergarten kids are taught to aspire to be martyrs and they long to kill lots of Jews.
One Gazan woman, who had been brought to Israel with her son who was given heart surgery here during (!) the 2014 Gaza-Israel war, summed it up with these words, " The difference between you (Israelis) and us (Palestinians) is that you honor life and we honor death".
Golda Meir, Israel's fourth Prime Minister (from 1969 to 1974), said this,
“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us”.
For the 16 years that Hamas has controlled Gaza, we in Israel have been subjected to endless rounds of rocket and missile attacks across the border. At times this has escalated into armed confrontation, but each time, Israel has been pulled back from defeating Hamas by calls from the nations for 'proportionality', 'negotiation' and 'humanitarian concerns'. This approach has not worked, it has only created the monster we are facing today. The monster must be destroyed totally or it will not only eat up Israel, but the USA, Europe and the so-called free world.
This time, Hamas crossed a red line and there is no going back. There will be no 'ceasefire', in which we cease and they fire. A ceasefire would be surrender. You must not make peace with evil. Israel is fighting for its very survival.
A few days ago, on October 24, on LBCTV (Lebanon) Ghazi Hamad of the Hamas political bureau said, that Hamas is prepared to repeat the October 7 " Al-Aqsa Flood Operation time and again until Israel is annihilated', adding that the Palestinians are willing to pay the price and that they are "proud to sacrifice martyrs." Hamad said that Palestinians are the victims of the occupation, therefore no one should blame them for the events of October 7 or anything else, adding: "Everything we do is justified."... "Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country, because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation, and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force..."We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.
https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-official-ghazi-hamad-we-will-repeat-october-seven-until-israel-annihilated-victims-everything-we-do-justified
When Hamad speaks of occupation he is meaning not the (non-existent) occupation of Gaza, but the 'occupation' of the whole land of Israel. According to the Koran, it is forbidden for any Muslim to relinquish, or even sell, any land conquered by Islam to a non-Muslim for any reason. Muslims see the land now controlled by the State of Israel as Muslim land and therefore all Israelis are 'occupiers'.
It is now Day 31 of the Israel-Hamas war of 2023. It is a beautiful, sunny autumn day and here in the Judean mountains it is quiet, too quiet. It is hard to believe that not far away our brave soldiers are fighting in the streets and alleys of Gaza, and in the tunnels below. As of 5 days ago, the IDF (Israel Defense Force) has hit over 11,000 military targets, rocket and missile launching sites, command centers, communication centers and weapons caches. I do not have a more recent update. The southern region including the cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Rehovot, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv and also Beer Sheva are still being pounded several times a day by rockets and missiles. At least 25 towns and kibbutzim close to the Gaza Strip and 29 towns, including the city of Kiryat Shmona, along the northern border have been compulsorily evacuated. The northern front is escalating daily. Last night Kiryat Shmona was hit by at least 12 missiles fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Now that our ground forces have entered Gaza, little officially-verified news is filtering out, but there is plenty of disinformation, propaganda and fake news. There is no doubt that Hamas is winning the propaganda war. They have no scruples. Truth is of no concern to them (lying is also sanctioned by the Koran when it is expedient). Unlike Israel they are not concerned about causing further pain to suffering families with their words and images. My plea is that you evaluate carefully the news you receive via the news media, which is mostly biased against Israel, and the internet which is heaving with fake news and propaganda. Below are links to some trustworthy sources:
Below are links to access a link to Israel Realtime which gives updates several times a day in English.
Join ISRAEL REALTIME - click below and you’re in!
Finally, it is important to remember that this war is primarily spiritual. It is a war between the nation of Israel, chosen by God and granted this land by covenant for ever, and the powers opposed to God. Make sure you are fighting on the right side.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
The most important weapon at our disposal is prayer, one not limited by location, availability or skill. Your prayers matter. The Psalms are a powerful aid and guide to prayer in these days. Here is one that resonated with me this morning:
Psalm 35. Of David.
Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.
2 Take up shield and armor;
arise and come to my aid.
3 Brandish spear and javelin
against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
“I am your salvation.”
4
May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away;
6 may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7
Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,
8 may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord
and delight in his salvation.
10 My whole being will exclaim,
“Who is like you, Lord?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”
11
Ruthless witnesses come forward;
they question me on things I know nothing about.
12 They repay me evil for good
and leave me like one bereaved.
13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
14 I went about mourning
as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
as though weeping for my mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
They slandered me without ceasing.
16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;
they gnashed their teeth at me.
17
How long, Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
among the throngs I will praise you.
19 Do not let those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
do not let those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.
20 They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
21 They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it.”
22
Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent.
Do not be far from me, Lord.
23 Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.
24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God;
do not let them gloat over me.
25 Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26
May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The Lord be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
28
My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praises all day long.
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