Shalom all,
The number of IDF members killed in action since the beginning of the ground offensive is now up to 131.
Rachel continues to weep for her children. Another military funeral, similar to others, but definitely different. It is difficult to describe in words what a military funeral is like in Israel. I’ve attended a few and wept with the families, the friends, the companions-in-arms and others who participated in the ceremony simply to honor and respect the fallen soldier. Today, it was the funeral of Sergeant First Class, Urija Bayer, 20 years old, for whom many of the recipients of this blog prayed for.
It was about an hour’s drive from Haifa to the military cemetery in Ma’alot-Tarshiha, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the northern city of Nahariyya. I drove with my oldest son, who was released from reserve duty after serving for two months, and his wife (whose sister is married to Urija’s cousin). We anticipated traffic, so we left a little early, planning to arrive between 30-45 minutes before the funeral service began. As we were approaching the entrance to the cemetery, we saw a long line of people lining the roadway, holding Israeli flags. The number of roadside participants increased significantly by the time we reached the cemetery. Vehicular traffic was directed by the IDF and we were able to get a parking space very close to the entrance. By the time we arrived at the cemetery, literally hundreds of people were already present – Urija’s family, of course; friends; members of the unit where he served, along with what appeared to be a sea of members of the IDF. By the time the actual funeral service began, about a thousand people were in attendance, including my daughter, who came down from Jerusalem, and my other son, who is on full-time, active duty in the IDF in the north of Israel.
We heard the echo of the loud speaker being turned on and then the announcement, requesting that the crowd make way and not block the path of the procession that was about to begin, on schedule. The crowd separated, making an uneven divide, but clearing a path wide enough for the pall bearers and the honor guard to pass, followed by family and just about everyone else, to the actual plot where Urijah would be interred.
The military funeral is arranged fully by the IDF. Each funeral has similar aspects – the arrival of the casket and its burial; eulogies by members of the IDF, including a rabbi, the commanding officer of the unit where the deceased soldier served, a testimony by another officer about the person and service of the solder, a prayer to the Father of Mercies, eulogies by members of the family, the “Mourner’s Kadish” (a prayer exalting and praising the greatness of God), a three-volley salute and the declaration that the service is officially over.
But, while all of the above elements were present, still, this military funeral was considerably different from almost all others. Urija was not Jewish, but was an Evangelical Chrisitian. Although he held the status of a permanent resident, he did not have Israeli citizenship, and so was exempt from mandatory military service. Nevertheless, like his four siblings before him, he volunteered to join the IDF, and served in the Maglan Special Forces unit, which is part of the Nahal Brigade. He is the youngest of five children, all of whom were born in Israel. His parents are German Christian Evangelicals, who founded “Zedakah” (meaning “charity”), a German Christian charitable organization that runs the Bet Eliezer Nursing Home in Ma’alot, which has one goal: to comfort and console elderly Holocaust survivors. Urija’s grandparents founded and operated the Beth El Guest Home, located in Shavei Zion (not far from the city of Naharriya), which hosts Holocaust survivors and their families for free.
In her eulogy, Urija’s mother related, among other things, to the meaning of the name “Urija” from a Biblical point of view. She spoke of the sovereignty of God in all things and of the salvation offered by faith in Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel – a subject almost never mentioned at a military funeral in Israel. The emotional impact of her words were clearly evident upon many of the faces of those present, as some wept and others wiped away tears. Urija lived out his faith in Messiah Yeshua and found favor in the sight of God and man. The testimony that he left behind will be remembered and spoken about by the people whose lives he touched.
Urija was described by officers and enlisted men, and women, as a highly dedicated and competent combat soldier, who was always ready to perform the most difficult tasks. He was quiet and always smiling, encouraging others in his unit to press on. He was dedicated to the defense of Israel, and was honored and respected by everyone in the IDF who knew him. Last Thursday, during difficult combat in the southern portion of the Gaza Strip, he sustained severe head injuries, from which he died on Sunday. All of the members of the IDF who spoke at his funeral closed with the words, “may his life be bound up in the bundle of the living” based upon 1 Samuel 25:29, which is a prayer of faith in the eternal life of the soul. The Hebrew letters that form an anagram from those words appear on almost all gravestones of Jewish people. May Urija’s memory be blessed.
The Gaza War continues in earnest, as units of the IDF continue to find and destroy additional tunnels that are part of a vast tunnel system, some of which are able to accommodate trucks. It is nothing short of a miracle that one of these larger tunnels, which is located a relatively short distance from one of the Israel-Gaza crossings, was not utilized by Hamas to overrun the IDF units in charge of those crossings and cause an even greater massacre inside of Israel than that which took place on October 7th.
The northern arena is no longer a place for irritating, cross-border incidents. Now, there is ongoing military action throughout the course of the day. The question on most people’s minds these days is not “if” a second front will develop, but “when”. In conversations with representatives of the United States, Israel expressed its desire that the Hezbollah be moved northward, at least 6 miles from the border with Israel. It is doubtful that the U.S. will be able to bring that event to pass and, even if it does, 6 miles will not prevent the Hezbollah from launching a missile attack upon Israel. The slightly increased distance will only result in a minimally longer “warning time”, that would enable people on our side of the border to find shelter.
Hostage negotiations – Israel is almost pleading for renewed negotiations with the Hamas terrorist organization, which remains adamant in its position that it will not negotiate for the release of hostages until Israel, essentially, stops the war. As has been the case for the last few days, “unnamed sources” relate information to news media, who then pass on the information to us, the “uninformed”, as if the information being communicated is true in every respect. We need to be careful about accepting third-party, “hearsay”, information.
Be that as it may, a report in Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) today, refers to an article appearing in the London-based newspaper, The New Arab (Al-Araby Al Jadeed), which claims that Hamas is ignoring feelers put out by Israel for renewed negotiations for a hostage/prisoner exchange and ceasefire. The Qatari-owned newspaper reported that according to an unnamed Egyptian source, “The leadership of the Hamas movement refused to respond to a proposal put forward by Tel Aviv regarding the possibility of completing a prisoner exchange deal that includes female soldiers and some elderly people as a first stage, followed by other stages.” Note the language: “Hamas movement” – no reference to it being a militaristic, terrorist organization; “put forward by Tel Aviv” – this is an attempt to refer to Israel’s capital as Tel Aviv, rather than Jerusalem; “first stage, followed by other stages” – The final release/return of ALL of the hostages will be negotiated in stages and definitely over an extended period of time. All during that time, if the IDF doesn’t “behave” properly, it is clear that Hamas will play its “on-again, off-again” game, putting the IDF and Israel to shame before the Arab world and the world community itself.
JNS added: “Hamas leadership won’t accept any proposals that don’t include a ceasefire as a ‘good faith gesture,’ the Egyptian source added. Israel’s offer included the release of prominent Hamas prisoners who had been in jail for long periods, said the source, who according to the paper was briefed on recent meetings between Egyptian officials and Hamas terror representatives in Doha. However, Hamas views the offer with suspicion, seeing it as an Israeli tactic to sow division among the various terror groups operating in Gaza, and so insists that ‘any future negotiations will not be limited to leadership prisoners from Hamas, but will include the leaders of all Palestinian resistance factions,’ the source said. The involvement of CIA Director William Burns is a sign that the United States and Israel are eager for a deal and that the Biden administration ‘believes that it is possible to reach a new agreement similar to the previous agreement, if Egypt and Qatar exert pressure,’ he added.” (Emphasis mine) Israel has rejected those demands and has stated that the war will continue and that it will be be ready for a ceasefire only when the hostages will be released.
The terms expressed above need to be understood from the point of view of Hamas wanting to “save face”, which is of critical importance in the Middle East, as well as to get what it originally requested, namely, the release of all “Palestinian” prisoners being held in Israeli jails. Although the language used is “leaders of all ‘Palestinian resistance factions’,” that is a starting point: first get the “generals” out, then get the “soldiers” out, who will be the military might that follows the instructions of the “generals”.
Israel needs to WAKE UP! We’re being played by Hamas. Even though we say now that its terms are unacceptable, if we continue to run after them and reduce our demands each time, then at some point we will give in to their demands in order to satisfy the demands of the families of the hostages. While we are at it, it should be obvious that to no small extent, and notwithstanding anything that the U.S. Department of Defense might say, we’re also being played by the Biden Administration, that is telling us how to conduct our war, when to finish fighting and what to negotiate. If our “friend” wants us to win the war, it can’t shackle us and tell us to do so with one hand, or maybe both hands, tied behind our backs. If the U.S. is sending in its top negotiator, who helped bring about the last “deal”, then it wants us to compromise regarding the goals we set for this war. The end result will be that the hostages “may” be released (we don’t know who is alive), how many negotiated deals will be necessary to bring that to pass or how long. And worse, Sinwar and his other evil cohorts will live to fight another day and to plan more massacres of Israelis. We should stop trying to make a deal with the devil. All of Israel wants the hostages returned. But, we also want to prevent a repeat of October 7th. We cannot compromise. Agreeing to the prerequisite demands of a purely evil, blood-thirsty terrorist group is a recipe for disaster. The good of the few should not take precedence over the good of the many. We need to make our own decisions. We can’t pursue winning the Gaza War and negotiate over what will cause us to lose it.
“Don’t Let Us Grow Old Here.” That is the title of a brief video, in Hebrew and English, that was released by Hamas yesterday, which features 3 elderly men who were taken captive on October 7th. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF Spokesman, said that the video was an “atrocious terrorism…It shows the cruelty of Hamas against elderly civilians, innocents, who require medical attention…The world must work to allow medical aid and to verify their condition.” And we are supposed to sit with their kidnappers and play “Let’s Make A Deal”? Hagari added a personal note to the hostages: “We are doing everything to return you safely. We will not rest until you are back.” While I respect Hagari, in my opinion it would have been best if that last statement was left out. If the “everything to return you safely” is a reference to the negotiations, then their safe return will come at a tremendous price tag that will endanger Israel.
The release of the video yesterday was obviously intended to play on the emotions of the Israeli public, in the backdrop of the rumors of an attempt at another negotiation, probably to put more pressure on the Israeli government to do whatever is necessary to bring about the release/return of the hostages. The emotional notch was increased a bit by including the well-known phrase (at least here, in Hebrew) from Psalm 71:9: “Do not cast me away at the time of my old age; Do not abandon me when my strength fails.” It should be a clear reminder of the totally immoral, insensitive people that we are dealing with.
Friends stand with their friends and defend them, when wrongfully attacked. United States Representative David Scott made that clear on October 25th.
So, what happened between the time that United States Representative David Scott declared that they not only will stand with Israel, but that they will fight with Israel? Why are we getting mixed messages from Uncle Sam? In all likelihood, it has to do with politics. There it is again. Politics!
The Dry Bones Blog – 19 December, 2023
Some friends “go the extra mile”. They not only defend in words, they give valid explanations for their positions. AND, they make it clear and unambiguous.
Bless, be blessed and be a blessing.
Marvin
The Week That Was 