Shalom, all.

Israel mourns! We mourn the loss of over 600 of our sons and daughters who were murdered by terrorists who attacked Israel from Gaza yesterday. When the final numbers are in, they are expected to be considerably higher, with some estimates reaching 1,000. We mourn the more than 2,000 Israelis who were wounded as a result of the attack, hundreds of whom are in serious and/or life-threatening conditions. We mourn the abduction of dozens of Israelis of all ages to Gaza and they abuse that they suffered and are suffering at the hands of people with no moral conscience. We grieve over the destruction and damaged caused by multiple missile barrages launched against Israel from Gaza, with over 3,000 rockets fired, some reaching communities in the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem area. We mourn with our friends and acquaintances who were informed that a parent, a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, an in-law who was killed as a result of the events of yesterday and today. We grieve with our friend of over 35 years, who was informed today that her son-in-law, a father of five, was one of the victims. 

Why did this happen? How could this happen? It’s not over yet. The numbers are not final. The captured are still in captivity. The anguish of the families of not knowing the fate of their loved ones cannot be expressed in words. Anguish turns to frustration and frustration turns to anger. Reports trickle in of some of the atrocities and war crimes committed by the terrorists and families being burned alive in their homes. Social media displayed photos of some of those who were taken captive. A soldier, bloodied and stripped down to his underwear, a naked young woman pulled out of a body bag by her hair, covered in blood. A very young child was heard asking his mother what was happening. She told him that they were taken captive and are being led to another place, to which he responded: “Are they going to kill us?” While I am against posting such photos on social media, some of these, like the ones mentioned here, need to be shown on every news channel in the world, so that they can see the kinds of people to whom the nations of the world want to give statehood and international recognition. A country that allows its politicians to take a public stand and praise the terrorists should send those very politicians to live with those terrorists, so that they can experience the pain and suffering of the victims of such terror. Their joy will quickly turn to sorrow and grief.

There is no doubt that our enemies saw the disunity in Israel resulting from the controversy over the program for judicial reform and they sought to take advantage of what they perceived to be a weakness in our society, a weakness that would spill over to our defense capability. They trained for this event for months. We even saw a video of their training, which actions they duplicated after their infiltration to the southern part of Israel. We were “duped” into believing that they did not want to expand hostilities with us.

But, the south is not the only area of concern. Hezbollah is also flexing its muscles and its missile capability far exceeds that of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. The I.D.F. needs to take action to prevent the Iranian puppets in Lebanon from carrying out their threats against us. We know what we need to do. We need the wisdom, timing and courage to do it.

Some think that I am taking a hard line and they are correct. I live here, my family lives here, most of our relatives live here, our children have donned the uniform and served this nation during difficult times with different responsibilities. For 2,000 years, our people have yearned for a homeland where we can live in peace. There are those who want to remove us and destroy us as a people that the name of Israel would be no more (Psalm 83:2-4). But, they did consult the Creator God of the universe, who said (Jeremiah 31:35-37: Thussays the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixedorder of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: ‘Ifthisfixedorderdeparts from before Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘Then the offspring of Israelalso will cease from being a nationbefore Me forever’. Thussays the LORD, ‘If the heavensabove can be measured and the foundations of the earthsearched out below, then I will alsocastoffall the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,’ declares the LORD.” God still has work for us to do, so whoever tries to remove Israel will find himself fighting against God, Who never loses.

More to follow.

Blessings to all,

Marvin