Shalom all.

Israel Update – Day 13 of the War.

It’s been 13 days since the murderous slaughter carried out by the terrorist organization, Hamas. The body count of the killed and fallen victims is over 1,400, with thousands wounded, many of whom remain in serious and life-threatening conditions. According to the Israeli army spokesperson, at least 306 members of the IDF have been killed and 203 people are being held hostage by Hamas. It is not known how many hostages are still alive. All the bodies taken to the forensic examiner have not yet been identified. When they are identified, the numbers of killed, captured and still missing will change again.

There is no diminishing of the anguish of the families whose loved ones were taken hostage and brought into Gaza. The media here reports on many of the stories, almost all of which will pull at the heart strings of any rational person and cause tears to flow. The mother of one of the kidnapped said, “I can hear my son screaming to me every night: ‘Mom, bring me home, save me!’” For some, the pain is compounded by the loss of a family member who was murdered by Hamas. As one mother said, “I don’t have time to mourn my mother’s murder, because I have to save my children’s life.” This expresses ongoing trauma, compounded by murder and kidnapping.

A final word regarding the hospital explosion in Gaza. Israel has presented concrete proof, including a recorded conversation between Islamic Jihad Terror Organization operatives <see https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-18/ty-article/israeli-army-presents-video-audio-to-show-islamic-jihad-behind-gaza-hospital-blast/0000018b-41f1-d242-abef-53f7d6570000>, that the explosion was from a terrorist missile that misfired. It landed in the parking lot, not on the hospital, and only between 10-50 people died as a result, and not 800. And even if the victims of the explosion near the hospital are greater more than 100, the responsibility for their deaths is on the Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Lies and exaggerations are part and parcel of the Hamas DNA. 

The Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon launched 30 rockets and 3 anti-tank missiles into Israel today. Two-thirds were aimed towards Western Galilee and the remaining ten rockets were aimed towards the Upper Galilee. One his a home in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. The IDF responded with with artillery fire against the locations from where the missiles were launched.

Simply writing about missile launches and retaliation cannot generate a full understanding of the whistling sound of incoming projectiles, nor can it generate an understanding of the booms and shock wave of missiles landing and exploding. Our daughter was with a youth group in Jerusalem when there was a missile alert. They all went into a bomb shelter, but she reported about the explosion that shook the building and the emotional impact resulting from this harrowing experience. My family went through a similar experience when, during the Second Lebanon War, a missile landed only a few blocks from where we live. 

An award-winning veteran journalist with one of the major television channels here, who has been covering the events of the war every evening, particularly in the south, shared this post on his Facebook account: “Two days ago, I went back for therapy. Psychological therapy. I thought, that as long as this war continues and I am working, then there really isn’t any need. Everything is OK. But, every night, when darkness descends – I fall apart. And every night that passes it gets worse.” If this is how war and missiles and explosions and deaths and atrocities and mayhem affects someone with years of experience in covering these events, how do you think it would affect the ordinary citizen? If you lived in the south of Israel, or even in the north near the Lebanese border, how do you think it would affect you? 

Political alliances rarely are made just because they are the right things to do under certain circumstances. As has been said in the past, “There are no free lunches.” There is usually a price to be paid for political “friendship”. One of those prices is to stop military action against Gaza and provide “humanitarian assistance” to those living there. Is this the “right thing to do”? After all, the citizens of Gaza supported ISIS. They chose the militarist terrorist group Hamas to rule over them. They cheered when Israeli citizens were killed, butchered and burned. We’re not talking about being nice to them, so that they can think well of us. The burning issue in Israel should not be to provide humanitarian aid to our enemies, but the defeat of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the return of the hostages, all of the hostages. This brings us back to a “compromise” that poses the dilemma of national priorities.

In an earlier update, I posed the question: “What would you do if the decision was for you and you alone to make regarding the war against Hamas and the offer to free hostages who are foreign nationals only?” I’m thankful for those who responded, both in short answers, as well as in longer, analytical replies. Add to the situation the knowledge of the sheer evil of the atrocities that were committed; and the fact that we don’t know exactly how many hostages were taken, and neither does Hamas; and the fact that our original purpose was to go after Hamas and eliminate it; and that your family member was one of the victims and you have another family member who was taken hostage, and that there are still over 200 hostages that may be spread out over a wide area in Gaza. Now, you’re being asked to stop bombing Gaza and provide humanitarian aid, without condition, to citizens of Gaza (recognizing the possibility that members of Hamas would try to “blend in” with the local population, so as not to be captured or killed). So, with this additional information, what would you do? This is a question that will be repeated many times during the course of this war, which will not end tonight.

“Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’ He said, ‘No; rather I indeed come now as Captain of the Host of the LORD’.” (Joshua 5:13-14). We need to grab hold of the fact that The “Captain of the Host of the LORD” is also the “Prince of Peace”. (Isaiah 9:6) The answer to Joshua’s question was, in essence: I didn’t come to take sides, I came to take over! That’s where the victory is.

We should not make the mistake of placing our trust in “princes, in human beings”. (Psalm 146:3-5)

God says: “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors 

of bronze and cut through their iron bars.” (Isaiah 45:2) The road that is blocked by human power is open to faith. When God emphatically says that He will do something, we should not dare to doubt. 

Bless, be blessed and be a blessing.

Marvin