Shalom all,
Israel Update – Day 18 of the War.
“And suddenly on Shabbat morning, when everything was quiet, there was very heavy shelling on the communities, and along with the shelling, the mob burst in, [easily] burst through the [border] fence… opened the gate of the kibbutz and broke in en masse. It was very unpleasant, very hard. My memory keeps replaying those pictures…I went through a hell that we never imagined.” (Yocheved Lifshitz, age 85, one of the hostages released last night) She added that she was beaten with sticks, not to the point of breaking her ribs, but “hurting me badly and making it hard for me to breathe.” <https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/freed-hostage-describes-being-taken-into-a-spiderweb-of-tunnels-under-gaza/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ForwardingtheNews_8098826> Think of her as your mother, or grandmother, or your sister or aunt. She is 85 and was “beaten with sticks”.

Israel has made a number of mistakes, beginning with Day 1 of the War, being caught off-guard by the unfathomable attack by Hamas. It took a few hours, but we regrouped, responded and began to remove, from each community surrounding the Gaza Strip, the terrorists who remained. And now, after a multitude of the media, countries and organizations condemned Hamas, the IDF allowed an unsupervised, live press conference in front of dozens of journalists, where the released captive said that she was well-treated by the terrorists and that she was well treated by her terrorist captors and that “they were very friendly”. From the point of view of Israel’s and the IDF’s public diplomacy, this interview could only be described as a disaster. Why the hospital allowed it to take place without some form of government supervision is yet one more question that will have to be answered, and quickly. This was another “mistake”, but one that could have far-reaching consequences, as it is, essentially, a public relations bonus for Hamas. Maybe this needs to be counter-balanced by widespread showing of the atrocities committed by hate-driven, blood-thirsty terrorists – atrocities which they, themselves, filmed of killings, rapes, beheadings, burnings and body dismemberment, among other things. I’m still trying to reconcile how she could go “through hell”, be beaten by her captors and still say that they were “very friendly towards us.” 

Notwithstanding anything else, over 200 people are still being held hostage by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations, as well as individuals, who joined in the abduction, hoping to get the apartment and $10,000 that they were promised for each captive that was taken. <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hkm3zrvmt#autoplay>

As humanitarian aid continued to flow into Gaza again today from the south, Hamas renewed its missile bombardment of southern communities and even headed northward, towards the center of the country, where Tel Aviv and surrounding cities were again targeted. The missiles were destroyed by Israel. Hamas continues its rocket barrages. Despite Israel’s massive bombardment of strategic locations in Gaza, Hamas’s supply of rockets is neither depleted nor destroyed. Reports of Israel’s planned ground offensive are mixed – some say that it may be placed on hold, while others say it could be undertaken without much advance notice. The IDF says it’s ready to enter Gaza, but despite its readiness, it will conducting a ground offensive in an area that Hamas has controlled for years, an area with miles of underground tunnels and with missiles hidden in civilian-populated areas. Maybe more time is needed to get the military information that it needs. Maybe it already has what it needs. We’ll soon see.

As the aerial offensive continues, Israel is being called upon to end the fighting – as if our doing so will actually end the reason for the war in the first place. No matter how one looks at the situation, if Israel ends the fighting, the bottom line is that doing so will enable Hamas to survive. And if it survives, then in another year or two or three, we’ll be looking at another, perhaps even deadlier, assault from Gaza, as well as one from Iran, the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and from other places like Yemen, who will see that despite our initial resolve to eliminate Hamas, we will eventually agree to another foolish cease fire. One journalist put it very succinctly: “[Well]-meaning humanitarians and critics of Israel’s government who are nevertheless supporters of the Jewish state are essentially on the same side as the antisemitic left demanding its elimination. They must all be considered Hamas’s useful idiots…But contrary to the moral relativism of [certain named] people…the option facing Israel and the world in Gaza is not one that can be characterized as morally complex or one in which the truth lies somewhere in the gray area between the absolutist claims of either Palestinians or Israelis…The choice between Hamas and Israel is not complex. It is one between an Islamist tyranny and a democratic state, between a group whose Western ideology isn’t merely alien to western thought but steeped in what can only be described as evil. The comparison between Hamas and ISIS is apt; they are both modern-day Nazi movements that share an eliminationist mentality when it comes to Jews and the Jewish state…The destruction of the Hamas regime…is a moral imperative….” <https://www.jns.org/ceasefire-advocates-are-hamass-useful-idiots/>

Cross-border incidents with Hezbollah continue and increase slightly more each day. Without pursuing this too deeply at this point, it should be clear that the expansion of the war with Hamas (“Palestinians”) could explode into a regional war if Iran instructs Hezbollah to launch massive missile barrages into Israel. The situation in the north is truly  touch-and-go. In the meantime, drones from Lebanon have been intercepted near Arco (Acre) <<https://www.jns.org/air-raid-sirens-sound-in-haifa-area/?_se=ZmVkZXJpY28uYmVudHNpa0B0aW4uaXQ%3D&utm_campaign=Evening+Syndicate+Monday+10232023&utm_medium=email&utm_source=brevo>, which is about 25-30 kilometers from Haifa. For more than two weeks, the buzz of Israeli drones are heard over our area throughout the night, to ensure that additional drones, armed or not, from Hezbollah do not again enter into Haifa airspace. While this was being written, sirens blared in the area of the Golan Heights. 

I am attaching today’s Dry Bones <blog@mrdrybones.com> perspective, which summarizes four generations since the outset of WWII. Think about it in the light of the blood bath that took place two and a half weeks ago on Black Saturday.

The attached 3 minutes and 20 seconds video appeared at the opening of a Japanese television news site. A group of Japanese men, women and children are singing a well-known Hebrew song – in Hebrew. They are supportive of Israel and share its pain and agony. The song reflects an attitude of despair that many people in Israel feel today. I translated the lyrics below.

 
When the heart cries, only God hears.The pain arises from the soul.A man falls before he sinks.By a small prayer, the silence is cut.Hear O Israel. My God,You can do everything.You gave me my life,You gave me everything.My eyes are filled with tears, The heart cries quietly.And when the heart is silent,The soul cries out.Hear, O Israel. My God!Now, I am alone,Strengthen me, my God.Cause me not to be afraid.The pain is greatAnd there is no where to go.Make it end, because I have no strength left.When the heart cries, time is standing still.Man suddenly sees his entire lifeGoing where, is unknown.He doesn’t want to go Where he is calling to God at the end of the abyss.

Thank you for your prayers. We need a spiritual revival where our nation, and yours, will call upon the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember, God longs to be gracious to us. (Isaiah 30:18). 

So, why not ask? “It will come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24).
Bless, be blessed and be a blessing.
Marvin