TERROR BY FIRE

 If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

Exodus 22:6

 Firefighters extinguish a fire in a wheat field caused by kites flown by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into Israel, May 30, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2018/06/F180530YS26-640x400.jpg

Summer has arrived in Israel and with it begins the 'fire season' as vegetation dries out and temperatures soar. This year though the fire season has an added danger, terrorists sending kites carrying incendiary devices over the border into Israel from Gaza.  As of 3 days ago, some 600 incendiary kites had been released. Of these some 400 had been intercepted by IDF drones but 200 had ignited fires in Israel, burning some 9,000 dunams (2,200 acres or 900 hectares) of ripe wheatfields and nature reserves. Since then we have been averaging an additional 10 fires a day caused by kites. On Saturday (9th June) 15 new fires were ignited. 

The aftermath - burned out area near Or Haner June 3, 2018  Credit:Eliyahu Hershkovitz
https://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.6140119.1528052209!/image/3191617438.jpg_gen/derivatives/fullscreen_1406xAuto/3191617438.jpg

The damage to agriculture alone was estimated at 1.4 million US dollars a few days ago and this is rising each day (1).  Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced plans to use Palestinian Authority funds for reparations to farmers who have lost crops and equipment, and today (11/06) the Knesset passed this resolution.  The real cost however is much greater, in terms of the cost of firefighting teams and equipment, including fire retardant-dropping planes, and the damage to wildlife and vegetation, air pollution and soil damage. It seems to me significant that Palestinians who want to claim a right to the Land, have so little respect for its welfare. 

The IDF is trying to develop means to fight this new threat and is sending drones to cut the strings of the kites (2). This has met with some success but with such a large number of kites, the strong west winds and the high temperatures, they cannot stop this wave of terror completely. It appears that Japan, in an act of kindness to the Gazan children, sent them thousands of kites, but these same children have converted these toys into weapons, and are now manufacturing their own. 

Below is a map of the fires as of 6th June. Click on full page icon and enlarge to see the full number of fires recorded. 



  https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=31.4740647835933%2C34.58186033085349&z=12&mid=1U3A57H6TCphdux7Sf7dl4z2-1F3vmecJ

Yesterday a new weapon was introduced into the melee - helium-filled balloons carrying explosive devices.  It seems like we are in a kind of arms race with the Gazan Palestinians. As soon as we develop the means to counter one kind of terrorism they dream up another. 

To counter the tunnel phenomenon, Israel developed technology to detect and destroy underground tunnels and also is constructing a  tunnel-proof fence along the border.  Having solved land-based tunnel problem now we are facing tunnels in the sea. It was announced this past week that on June 3, in the first such operation,  the IDF destroyed a marine tunnel, which would have enabled specially trained elite Hamas commandos to enter the sea in Gaza undetected and swim underwater using advanced, hard-to-detect bubble-free equipment, to carry out attacks in Israel. Since the last major Gaza confrontation, Hamas has invested much effort into training and equipping a large naval commando unit of frogmen with the intention, not only of attacking Israel from the sea but also threatening Israel's naval and marine installations, including its offshore gas drilling platforms. The IDF is aware of this new threat and claims there may well be other such tunnels along the Gazan coast. Israel is also in the process of constructing a marine barrier between Gaza and Israel. 

As I am writing I am thinking of Isaiah 54 which speaks of the end-time restoration of Israel:

In righteousness you will be established:

Tyranny will be far from you;

    you will have nothing to fear.

Terror will be far removed;

    it will not come near you.

15 

If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;

    whoever attacks you will surrender to you...

  no weapon forged against you will prevail,

    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

    and this is their vindication from me,”

declares the Lord.

 Isaiah 54: 14,17

Someone sent me this song, "Lo Efahed" (I will not be afraid) which I think is very powerful and largely embodies the atmosphere in Israel today, a mood of determination and strength.  It is in Hebrew but has the English translation in subtitles. Take a few minutes to listen: 
https://youtu.be/ZAAMqqJ98zw  

The more traditional forms of terror have not passed out of the picture either. Today an 18 year old girl, on her way to sit her matriculation exam in citizenship, was stabbed and seriously injured by a Palestinian terrorist in the town of Afula, in the Galilee. Yesterday an explosive device was found and disarmed at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. 

The Palestinian propaganda war, nicknamed Pallywood here, is of course in full swing, and  many, especially in Western nations, are buying into their lies and distortions, and the BDS movement is gaining strength worldwide. This week the  Argentinian football team canceled a friendly match that was to have taken place this past Saturday in Jerusalem. While Palestinian protestors claimed the cancellation was an act of identification with and sympathy for the Palestinians, the real truth is that star player Messi and his wife had received threats to their safety (3). This act is adding flame to the already-spreading fire of opposition to the hosting of next year's  European Song Contest in Israel, which is our right after our representative, Nessa Barzilai, won the contest this year.  The BDS may win these small battles but in the end truth will win and Israel will be vindicated:

"and you will refute every tongue that accuses you."

Isaiah 54:17

Meanwhile, what is happening in the north?  Now that Syrian President Assad's forces have recaptured the last enclave of rebels in Damascus the focus has shifted to the southern region where rebels and ISIS still control the area adjacent to Israel's border (see the map below). Israel has been carrying out ongoing talks with Russia about the situation, in which Israel has made it clear that, though it will accept Assad's forces securing that area, it will not tolerate Iranian or Hezbollah presence close to our border, and it appears that Russia agrees. Following talks between Israel and Russia, it was reported that " the sides (Russia and Israel) agreed it was necessary to remove Iranian forces from southern Syria and allow Israel to freely attack targets it deems a threat – on the condition that these are not sites tied to the regime of Bashar Assad, which Russia supports" (5). Syria and Iran of course are claiming that no such agreement was made. Syria's President Assad, is even claiming that there are no Iranian military personnel in Syria, which is just absurd since Iran has admitted to it. Adding to the absurdity of it all, there are reports that Iranian soldiers are donning the uniforms of the Syrian military to give the impression that there are no Iranians there. How stupid do they think we are? However do not underestimate the power of propaganda. We are living in a period in which the concept of objective or absolute Truth has disappeared and truth has become something fluid and pragmatic. People will believe what they want to believe. 

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2018/6/1/israel-and-russia-team-up-against-iran-in-syria

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Cabinet-approves-transferring-desalinated-water-to-Kinneret-559643

BDS may be gaining ground but on the other hand, we still have many friends around the world.  This past week an estimated two million evangelical Christians participated in a march during which they expressed support and prayed for Israel (6). More and more Israelis are expressing their appreciation for the support of Christians. This is a powerful witness to them and I pray that more Christians will stand up and be counted, so that effect the centuries of persecution against Jews can be softened and Jewish hearts opened to the message of Yeshua. 

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

John 3:16 - 18

References:
1. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-fire-damage-to-gaza-border-area-agriculture-estimated-at-1-4m-1.6140094
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5278488,00.html  fire kites
2. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5283705,00.html 
3. https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/IDF-neutralizs-Hamas-naval-terror-tunnel-559616
4. https://www.timesofisrael.com/argentina-officially-cancels-jerusalem-match-says-its-nothing-against-israel/
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/argentina-cancels-israel-soccer-match-in-jerusalem-after-palestinian-pressure-1.6153639
5. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/report-israel-and-russia-agree-to-remove-iranian-forces-from-syrian-1.6137601
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5275778,00.html
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2018/6/1/israel-and-russia-team-up-against-iran-in-syria
6. https://www.timesofisrael.com/millions-of-brazilians-hail-israel-during-march-for-jesus/

A REQUIEM FOR THE SINAI

 

Mt Sinai
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/25500/Default.aspx
 

One of the greatest dangers of the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) is not so much that it is conquering territory, committing horrendous humanitarian crimes, practicing ethnic cleansing,  and imposing barbaric Medieval Sharia laws on the populations it rules, but that it has drawn the entire world's attention away from all the other threats to peace, especially Iran and its nuclear program, and the spread of radical Islam throughout the world.

 

One area which is largely escaping the world's awareness is the threat crouching in the Sinai Peninsula. When I first came to Israel in 1979, half the Sinai was still under Israeli control. I worked at the Eilat Field School for several months and on our days off we would freely wander and explore the Sinai. I often travelled alone on foot in the desert accompanied by my little terrier dog, and never felt any threat or danger at all from the local Bedouins. Quite the opposite. They always treated me with respect, hospitality and kindness. In those days, the Sinai was a mecca for Israeli holiday makers with the beaches being filled shoulder-to-shoulder with tents and the air filled with the aroma of roasting barbecues. The Bedouin too were enjoying the presence of the Israelis, who brought with them employment, hard dollars, healthcare and schools. The Bedouin drove Mercedes, had fat healthy flocks of sheep and goats, sleek camels and warehouses full of smuggled electronic goods. They had never had it so good. Then in 1982 Israel was forced to return the last of the Sinai to Egyptian rule, and the Peninsula became a neglected backwater, a kind of no-man's land. Over the ensuing years a series of terror attacks, and the absence of any effective law and order, eroded the tourist industry to the extent that no one, certainly no Israeli, will venture there any more. The local economy crumbled and the unemployed young men grew angry and discontent. A perfect recipe for the incursion of the ideology of the Islamic jihadists. A plethora of jihadi terror organizations moved in, recruiting as they came. Now the whole peninsula is a hotbed of terror.

 

The most active and most dangerous of the terror organizations operating in the Sinai is the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (Supporters of the Holy House), a Salafi Jihadi group, which has been active since the Egyptian Revolution in 2011.Its activities escalated dramatically after the 2013 overthrow of  Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood controlled government in Egypt. It claims to be acting in retaliation for the consequent crackdown against Islamist supporters in which 1400 have been killed and around 15,000 imprisoned, hundreds of whom are sentenced to death http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/15/Ansar-Beit-al-Maqdis-militants-claim-deadly-Sinai-attack.html .  Over the last few years Ansar Bayt al-Maquis  has been responsible for repeated attacks on the pipelines that bring oil from Egypt to Israel (part of the Sinai return deal), a number of missile attacks on the Israeli city of Eilat, assassinations and bombings in Egypt,  and the brutal beheadings of so-called Israeli collaborators (none of whom were known to Israeli Intelligence). They have also attacked and killed scores of Egyptian police and soldiers. The deadliest attack occurred on October 24th  this year when an explosives-filled car was rammed into a military checkpoint , near the border with Gaza, killing 31 Egyptian soldiers.

 

Immediately following this attack, the Egyptian government created a buffer zone, 13 km long and 500m wide, on its side of the border in Rafah, the 'Palestinian' city that straddles the Egyptian-Gaza border, in order to stop the infiltration of terrorists and arms. In clearing this strip they evicted around 600 - 1000 families (estimates vary), with only 48 hours notice, and destroyed their homes. When they razed the homes they found hundreds of smuggling tunnels.  According to the Times of Israel, this buffer strip will be monitored by surveillance cameras and feature a water-filled trench that will extend to the Mediterranean Sea. (What an outcry there would be if Israel had dared to do such a thing!!!!).  

http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-steps-up-efforts-for-gaza-buffer-after-discovery-of-more-tunnels/ 



Homes being demolished in Rafah, Wednesday 29 October 2014
http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-steps-up-efforts-for-gaza-buffer-after-discovery-of-more-tunnels/

Today a video was posted on Twitter, purportedly by Ansar Bayt al-Maquis, claiming responsibility for the October 24th attack. This comes after a week of yo-yo-ing claims and denials that they had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and renamed themselves the Sinai Province (of that State). http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Ansar-Bayt-al-Maqdis-posts-video-of-deadly-attack-that-killed-30-in-Sinai-381854.  In a statement cited by Reuters Monday this week,  a spokesman for Ansar Bayt al-Maquis said that they had decided to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (leader of ISIS), who has declared himself to be the Caliph of the Muslims in Syria and Iraq and in other countries. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/25500/Default.aspx . The next day, Ansar Bayt al-Maquis denied all involvement with the Islamic State. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/187044#.VF-TXJscRLM  It is difficult to know where the truth lies but there is no doubt they share the same ideology and goals as the Islamic State, namely to ultimately destroy Israel and spread Islamic rule over the whole world.  If they have joined forces however, this will effectively bring the Islamic State right onto the doorstep of Israel.

 

Meanwhile, what are our other neighbors doing?   Hamas in Gaza is busy rearming itself and boasting that it will renew missile attacks on Israel very soon. It even boasts that it is rebuilding the tunnels and will carry out a massive terror incursion via those tunnels. Hezbollah boasts at least 200,000 missiles currently aimed at Israel, enough to virtually obliterate every Israeli city and town.  Iran, laughing at the West, continues its development of nuclear weapons,  and at the same time  is supplying  more and better missiles to Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria http://yalibnan.com/2014/11/14/iran-confirms-supplying-missile-production-plants-to-syria-hezbollah-hamas/. According to the Times of Israel today,

"A top Iranian military commander announced Wednesday that Palestinian terrorist groups and Hezbollah received Fateh-class missiles that are able to attack any target in Israel.

 

Tehran has also provided Hezbollah and Hamas with advanced rocket training, Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Sayed Majid Moussavi said, according to the Fars News Agency.

 

If true, this would be the first public revelation by Iran that the Palestinians are in possession of Fateh missiles that have a range of 200 kilometers, according to the Israel Missile Defense Association.

“Considering the range of their missiles, they are able now to attack all targets from southern to northern parts of [Israel]” .

 http://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-general-palestinians-have-longer-range-missiles/

As our enemies are busy arming themselves with the aim of obliterating Israel, our main ally, the USA, led by a vague, ineffectual  and seemingly ambivalent  President Obama, is faltering in its support. One student of the situation, Noah Beck, gives voice to how many Israeli's see the situation with the USA in a rather tongue-in-cheek article published today. Its worth a read. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/25522/Default.aspx ) 

http://yalibnan.com/2014/11/14/iran-confirms-supplying-missile-production-plants-to-syria-hezbollah-hamas/

Given the scale and malevolence of these threats to Israel's existence, is it any wonder we are feeling alone here in our fight against the jihadist Islamic threat?

  

But we are not alone.

 

 King David declared,

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”

 “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
 You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
 Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
  Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Psalm 2

Addressing Jerusalem, the LORD God of Israel has this to say:

Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
    I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
    your foundations with lapis lazuli....

 Terror will be far removed;
    it will not come near you.
 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;    whoever attacks you will surrender to you. ‘See, it is I who created the blacksmith
    who fans the coals into flame
    and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
   no weapon forged against you will prevail,
    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication from me,’
declares the Lord.

Isaiah 54: 14-17

God raises up kings and rulers for his own purposes, sometimes in order to bring Israel to its knees in repentance, but those same rulers and kings will eventually be punished for coming against the LORD's anointed, and in the end, repentant Israel will be victorious.

The day of the Lord is near
    for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
    your deeds will return upon your own head.
Just as you drank on my holy hill,
    so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
    and be as if they had never been.
But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
    it will be holy,
    and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

Obadiah 1: 15-17

The LORD stands for Israel, today as in the past, and though our enemies might rise up against us in immeasurable might, the LORD is greater than all the armies and all the weapons, and He will fight on our behalf. I pray that we all will be found fighting  alongside Him on the side of righteousness, and prayerfully doing battle against the powers of darkness, when that day comes.