Shalom all,

The number of IDF members killed in action since the beginning of the ground offensive is now up to 122.

Urijah Bayer is with the Lord Yeshua. Attached is a notice from the family about Urijah’s passing. Please keep the family in your prayers.

This war is taking a toll on the nation. We see it in the faces of the population every day. There is a type of lethargy that permeates society. We continue to function, to work, to manufacture and produce. We have to. Life doesn’t stop, but sometimes events take our breaths away.

What could have been an occasion for rejoicing was turned into time of mourning.The events surrounding the tragic deaths of three of the hostages, who were killed by the IDF, continue to sharpen the divide between the two primary goals of the Gaza War that seem to be almost irreconcilable, namely, the defeat of the Hamas terrorist organization and the return of the remaining hostages. On the one hand, Israel wants to eliminate the leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization and to crush, or at least to severely weaken, its infrastructure. This requires an all-out commitment and effort that needs to put aside other considerations that could weaken the resolve to “get in, get the job done and get out”. On the other hand, Israel wants to bring about the return of the hostages. This also requires an all-out commitment, but one that necessitates the diminishing, or halt to its commitment to eliminate Hamas.  Both situations require compromise and capitulation on Israel’s part.

The IDF was highly motivated when it began the ground offensive. They were determined. They looked forward to achieving their goal. They were discovering Hamas strongholds and tunnel systems under hospitals, government offices, schools and even military equipment in locations belonging to UNRWA. The IDF was making great advances, causing heavy losses to Hamas fighters and the destruction of many of the tunnels and facilities for the manufacture of weapons. But, as the numbers of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip began to increase, world sympathy shifted from Israel (to the extent that such sympathy existed in various countries) to the poor Gazans, most of whom were in total support of Hamas and its massacre of Israelis on October 7th. Friends, as well as foes, pressed Israel for a “humanitarian” ceasefire. 

While the nations clamored for Israel to be more mindful of the civilians in Gaza and should take more precautions to protect them, the families of the hostages were becoming organized. They received financial backing from presently undisclosed sources, they made photos, t-shirts, bumper stickers, billboards, and even necklaces, all demanding the return of the hostages, NOW! And they were vocal. Their voices became louder and louder, not only locally, but internationally. Posters of the hostages seemed to appear everywhere. Relatives met with foreign officials and with international organizations. As a result, the Israeli government was being pressed. It needed to pursue the goal of eliminating Hamas, but it couldn’t ignore the families. And then, Hamas wanted to negotiate a ceasefire.

Negotiations were conducted and despite the initial opposition of the IDF to a ceasefire, an agreement was reached. A number of hostages were returned, in exchange for 3 “Palestinian” prisoners in Israeli jails for every 1 hostage that Hamas agreed to return. The issue of the hostages was and remains Israel’s soft spot. The protesters yelled that every additional day that the hostages spend in the Gaza Strip endangers the lives of all of the hostages. And, in light of the tragic killing of the three hostages by the IDF, their argument now includes that even if some of the hostages somehow manage to get free, their lives may be at risk from “friendly fire” – a misnomer if every there was one.

Israel capitulated. The negotiations resulted not only in a hostage and prisoner exchange. It also resulted in a temporary ceasefire, which Hamas used to its advantage. The IDF was told to wait. Its momentum was temporarily halted. And then Hamas violated the ceasefire and the war was resumed. Up until that time, the IDF had lost around 70 of its soldiers from the time of the beginning of the ground offensive. After the fighting was renewed in earnest and during the last two plus weeks, the number of IDF casualties increased by 52, and now stands at 122. The world still accepts the unproven narrative of Hamas regarding the number of “innocent Gazan civilians” killed.

Israel’s prime backer and supplier of much-needed military supplies is telling Israel that its time to get rid of Hamas and complete the war is limited. The implied threat is that if we don’t end the war according to Uncle Sam’s timetable, he will cut off our allowance, i.e., the U.S. will stop sending military supplies. They want us to draw back on the number of IDF fighting personnel in the Gaza Strip and also to change the manner in which Israel conducts the war, within approximately a three-week time frame. This will not be accomplished.

The Netanyahu government is now between a rock and a hard place. If Netanyahu confronts the Biden Administration, it may help him to regain his much-needed support of right-wing voters, who want the war to continue until Hamas is obliterated. But, in the process, we could lose a strategic vote on the Security Council of the UN. Israel was and is being pressed to do more on an “humanitarian” level and allow the Gazans to receive supplies, medical equipment, food and even fuel – which Netanyahu said would never enter the enclave (never say “never”). Israel is compromising on the war effort in order to receive massive support of munitions and other military supplies from the U.S. so that the war effort could continue. Circular reasoning! These military supplies are also intended to bolster Israel’s position against the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.

Israel is facing pressure from within from the families and friends of the hostages, and from without, from friendly and not-so-friendly governments to enter into a ceasefire “that will last”. And, it is yielding to those pressures. Israel wants to have a second round of negotiations for the return of more hostages – not ALL hostages, but MORE. Yehya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is standing fast: no more discussions until Israel stops the fighting. We are fighting and moving forward militarily. On the political end, we are being pushed back to the starting line. In fact, we are being pushed even further back, because the Biden Administration is taking a hard line regarding “the day after”. It wants a “two-state solution” to the Arab-Israeli conflict, headed up by a Holocaust denier, who also denies the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th and who wants Israel to be destroyed. Netanyahu, and others in the government and in the nation, are vehemently opposed to the establishment of a “Palestinian” state or the dead and buried “two-state proposal”.  

And so, another type of war is brewing, to be added to the present one in Gaza, the one that will break out with Hezbollah, the one that the Houthi’s are pushing for and the one that some of our cousins here are waiting for.

Israel continues to wait for her Messiah, while many of us pray for Messiah’s return. Only then, when the Prince of Peace reigns, there will be no more war.

Today’s post is a very brief, and selective, summary of how we got to where we are. Tomorrow, by God’s grace, we will return to discussing “other things”. In the meantime, we all need a break from war.

Bless, be blessed and be a blessing,
Marvin