Friday, October 25, 2024

The Death of Yahya Sinwar

by Melanie Phillips ~ Jewish News Syndicate

Monday, 21 October 2024 | Some people here in Israel reportedly cried tears of joy over the killing by the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Rafah area of Gaza on Wednesday. Others were jubilant.

I was not.

Yes, there’s enormous relief. There’s huge satisfaction that at last Sinwar has met his long overdue fate. The world is a better place without him.

It’s also an immense victory for the IDF. And it’s another vindication of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s determination to send the IDF into the Hamas stronghold of Rafah in the teeth of the huge pressure by the Biden–Harris administration not to do so. (See here US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan last March declaring the administration’s opposition to a major IDF ground operation in Rafah.)

Netanyahu faced down this pressure with all its accompanying threats and bad-mouthing. As a result, Hamas has been decimated and Sinwar has been killed. If Biden and Harris had prevailed, Hamas would still be strong rather than on its knees, and Sinwar would still be alive and directing its vile operations.

But far, far too much has happened for joy or jubilation. Far too much still remains to be done.

There are still 101 Israeli hostages in Gaza. We don’t know how many are still alive. We have a very good idea of the appalling conditions in which they have been held for the past 12 months.

Israel is the one and only refuge from the world’s never-ending attempts to destroy the Jewish people. On October 7, 2023, it failed in this core purpose. Every day since then that the hostages have remained incarcerated or have been murdered has reopened that existential wound.

The hostages’ fate, along with the murders committed on October 7 and the deaths ever since of hundreds of young Israelis in military service who have given their lives in the defense of their country, tears many of us apart. It is haunting this brave and beautiful country, and will haunt us here forever.

The battle with Hamas is also far from over. It may have been destroyed as a serious military threat to Israel, but it still has weapons and troops that can continue to do great harm and it still poses a mortal threat to the IDF soldiers who are steadily rooting it out from its many remaining bolt-holes.

Most important, the key part of the war still remains to be won—against the Iranian proxies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria; in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria where Israeli troops are battling daily against a terrorist infrastructure posing a mortal threat from within the Israeli heartlands; and above all against the head of the snake itself: the Islamic regime in Tehran.

More profoundly, although Sinwar is now no more, the evil he perpetrated has not died with him.

Sinwar didn’t create this evil. He was the product of it, and was one of its many diabolical avatars. What created him was fanatical, genocidal Jew-hatred, the desire to remove Israel and the Jewish people from the face of the earth as an Islamic  religious duty—the evil that animates the Palestinian–Arab cause, the evil that has taken thousands of Jewish and Israeli lives without remission for the past century, the evil that has infused what the Palestinian–Arabs have taught their children for generations: that their highest and most sacred calling is to kill Jews and take all their land.

This evil has not just corrupted the Palestinian–Arabs but has also taken monstrous root throughout the West. Its media outlets pump out Hamas propaganda and blood libels demonizing and delegitimizing Israel through the Palestinian cause.

This cause has fried the Western brain with a psychopathic, murderous narrative that masquerades as justice and compassion. It has created followers in the West with minds sealed shut against truth and morality, and turned others into shallow and confused fellow-travelers. They may believe they are supporting the rights of “oppressed” Palestinians but what each and every one of them is supporting—including, tragically, too many Diaspora Jews—is a creed of murderous Jew-hatred.

This profound evil is now everywhere in the West. It is promoted throughout the institutions of civil society—in the medical and legal professions, among welfare workers, trade unions, university lecturers and students, the civil service, the literary, theatrical and artistic worlds and throughout the Church of England. It is systematically robbing Jews of their own history, obscenely turning the supreme victims of genocide into the alleged perpetrators of genocide and turning the victims of the Holocaust into the perpetrators of a holocaust—demonizing Jewish victims as victimizers to delegitimize them as the prelude to erasing them from the world.

Israel’s task now is to retrieve the hostages alive or dead, finish the destruction of Hamas in Gaza and above all to neutralize the Iranian regime, thus removing forever the evil it has inflicted upon the Jewish people and the world.

This will happen, whatever the cost. It’s just a matter of time. Israel will stay the course and will win this terrible war. It will do so because it has no alternative.

But the evil that has been unleashed in the West is, alas, a different matter.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on October 20, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90/jns.org

Prayer Focus
While we do not rejoice in the death of anyone, we do acknowledge God’s holiness and sovereignty. He will not be mocked forever by those who oppose His people. Pray that the death of the Hamas military leader will bring the remaining terrorists in Gaza to the point of complete surrender. Pray also for the strength and endurance within Israel to continue the battle until this evil ideology has been uprooted.

Scripture

For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.

- Zechariah 2:8

Israel Slams Harris’s ‘Shocking’ Genocide Accusation

by Joshua Marks ~ JNS

Monday, 21 October 2024 | Former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren on Sunday called for the White House to state unequivocally that Jerusalem is not committing genocide in Gaza, after Vice President Kamala Harris appeared to equivocate on the issue.

The Democratic nominee for president appeared to suggest at a campaign event in Milwaukee that the Jewish state was committing genocide, in an incident involving an anti-Israel heckler.

Writing on X, Oren said her remarks set “a very dangerous precedent.”

“I felt deep shock when I watched the video in which Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed a serious accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Oren tweeted.

“This is the first time the White House has been linked to a defamation that threatens the legitimacy and security of the State of Israel. I demand that the US administration issue an immediate and unequivocal denial and make it clear in no uncertain terms that there is no place for such baseless accusations, which harm not only Israel but also the relationship between the two countries.”

After a heckler interrupted the vice president at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee event on Thursday and called Israel genocidal, Harris said, “I know what you’re speaking of. I want the ceasefire. I want the war to end, and I respect your right to speak, but I am speaking right now,” according to the New York Post.

After saying “what about the genocide” and yelling “19,000 children are dead, and you won’t call it a genocide,” the keffiyeh-clad man was removed.

“Listen, what he’s talking about, it’s real,” Harris said. “That’s not the subject that I came to discuss today, but it’s real and I respect his voice.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on October 20, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Prayer Focus
Pray that the US, a country founded on faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, will continue to stand firmly in support of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Pray for a reverent fear of the Lord to permeate the US government. Pray that the Biden administration will issue an unequivocal and plain statement that Israel is not guilty of genocide.

Scripture

The fear of the LORD leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil.

- Proverbs 19:23

Simchat Torah—Rejoicing with the Beloved Even in Sorrow

by Ilse Strauss

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 | Thousands of years ago, King David poured out his passion for the Word of God in a skillful song. “Oh, how I love Your law!” he sang, “It is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 119:97).

Today, some three millennia later, the same heart of love still beats within the descendants of Israel’s famous shepherd king. God did, after all, invite the Jewish people to weave the Torah (Gen.–Deut.) into the very fabric of their existence. His Words were to be tucked safely into their hearts as a treasure, to be mulled over as day flows into night, the delights thereof shared with their children and their children’s children (Deut. 6:6–9).

The Children of Israel took these instructions to heart. Even now, generations after Moses received the instructions from the Almighty and millennia after King David penned his famous Psalm, the joy of the Torah is clearly on display in the Land of Promise. It is a passion woven into every hour of every day.

Yet once a year, the Jewish nation sets aside a day devoted specifically to this purpose. On Simchat Torah, which literally means “Rejoicing in the Torah,” hearts in Israel is dedicated to delight—with joyous laughter, dancing and singing—in the Torah that God gave His people on Mount Sinai.

This year, Simchat Torah in Israel starts at sundown tonight (October 23) and finishes when the sun sets again tomorrow evening (October 24). The jubilant day follows directly after Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles. As the sun sets after the seventh day of celebrating Sukkot, Israel prepares for the festival of rejoicing over the fact that the great and mighty God in His infinite love and mercy, deemed to share His instructions with fallible man.

The timing makes perfect sense. Sukkot is, after all, the most joyous of the biblical feasts. The initiative for the time of merrymaking comes directly from God Himself. “And you shall rejoice in your feast,” He teaches in Deuteronomy 16:14. No wonder that Sukkot is known traditionally as “the Season of Our Joy.” Simchat Torah offer a fitting culmination to the days of jubilation.

Yet Simchat Torah is about more than ending a joyous time on a joyous note. The culture and traditions of the people of Israel are, after all, born from the threads that weave through Scripture. And Simchat Torah is no exception. On this day, the Jewish people mark the conclusion of the annual cycle of Torah readings—and signal the start of the new sequence.

Every week, in synagogues in every city from Jerusalem to Johannesburg, from Berlin to Beijing, the same portion of the Torah, called a parashah (or parashat for plural), is read. With roughly one parashah for every week of the year, this ensures that everybody reads the same parashah every week—and that the Torah is read in its entirety once per year.

On Simchat Torah, the Torah scroll is opened to the last parashah for the final reading in the yearly cycle. Yet as soon as the last words of Deuteronomy echo through the synagogue, the scroll is rolled back to the beginning, ready for the next cycle. Simchat Torah thus marks a full circle. It celebrates a completion—and delights in the expectation of a new beginning.

An infectious joy usually settles over the Jewish state for Simchat Torah. In synagogues, the Torah scroll is taken from the ark—its ornate storage cabinet—and paraded around the synagogue seven times in an exuberant procession to the rhythm of triumphant praise songs and shouts of rejoicing. Every member of the synagogue will have the opportunity to carry the precious scroll. On Simchat Torah, the words of King David’s skillful song are brought to life as the hearts of his decedents sing, “Oh, how I love Your law!” (Ps. 119:97).

Children have a special part to play during the festivities and are called to a place of honor under a gigantic tallit or prayer shawl. Here, they recite the traditional prayers and blessings while parents and friends shower them with candy.

The joy of the festival is often difficult to contain within the four walls of the synagogue and celebrations are known to spill out into the surrounding streets. As passersby are swept up into the merriment and rejoicing groups merge, the land of God’s promise is filled with adoration for His Word.

Rejoicing obviously does not come naturally for Israel this year, particularly not on this day. On the Hebrew calendar, Simchat Torah marks the one-year anniversary of the horrific massacre on October 7, 2023. Hamas purposefully chose this day of rejoicing to breach the border, swarm into communities and brutally murder more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Walking through the ravaged communities in the days after the attack last year, one would often be struck by the evidence of the efforts Hamas’s victims made to prepare for this special holiday they would never celebrate. Burnt remnants of frilly new dresses and shiny shoes laid out in a destroyed family home. Bags of candy and a giant tallit left behind in a synagogue.

The horror of deeds so evil that it shocked even hardened soldiers, medical workers and journalists is still fresh in Israel’s heart. And on the first commemoration of the attack on the Hebrew calendar, it is easy to wonder whether this day set aside for rejoicing will forever be marred by sorrow and trauma.

Yet perhaps more than other years, on this Simchat Torah, Israel chooses to rejoice despite the sorrow. They intentionally make the decision to be glad, not for the sake of merriment, but over the joy this day represents.

“Simchat Torah is a day of rejoicing with our Beloved,” explains Moshe Kempinski. Over the years, Moshe, an Orthodox Jew, has gained significant experience explaining Jewish beliefs to Christians eager to understand. His biblical gift store, Shorashim, offers a haven in the Old City—not only for those on the hunt for the perfect keepsake from Jerusalem, but also for many, a seeking Christian heart longing to know more about the Land and people of Israel.

The most joyful thing we as humans can often do for our beloved, the person we love most on earth, is to fulfill the desires of his or her heart, Moshe explains. He recounts the tale of his heavily pregnant wife craving an orange, during a time when no oranges were to be found anywhere. Yet Moshe remembers scouring every nook and cranny of the city on the hunt for an orange to fulfil the desire of his beloved’s heart.

The same holds true for humans and God, our ultimate Beloved, he continues. “What is the most joyful thing you can do for your Beloved?” Moshe asks. “To do that which you know your Beloved wishes, to fulfill His desires. That is the greatest joy.”

And that is what the Torah is to Israel: a blueprint of how God desired the people of Israel to walk in relationship with Him. The Torah provides Israel with His instructions, His heart and desires. “Anybody who assumes that the Jewish people consider the Torah a burden just has to see Simchat Torah,” he concludes.

That is what Israel celebrates on Simchat Torah. And that is why Israel will celebrate on this Simchat Torah—despite the sorrow, despite the horror of deeds so evil that is still fresh in Israel’s heart and despite the threats of annihilation that has hung over Israel through every age.

Israel’s most famous shepherd king has indeed given us the secret to joy: “Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!” (Ps. 144:15).

Source: (Bridges for Peace, October 23, 2024)

Photo Credit: Avital Pinnick/Flickr.com

Photo License: Flickr

Prayer Focus
Praise the Lord for the gift of His Word and for the gift of Simchat Torah, a day spent in rejoicing. Pray that as Christians, we too may take time to be glad and rejoice that we have the Bible, the written Word of God. Pray that those in Israel who are grieving will have been comforted and their sorrows eased just a tiny bit because they chose to give thanks to the Lord for His Torah.

Scripture

Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

- Psalm 144:15b

Bridges For Peace CEO Ranked among Top Christian Israel Supporters

by Kate Norman

Tuesday, 22 October 2024 | Bridges for Peace CEO Rev. Peter Fast ranked among top Christian supporters of Israel in a list published by the Israel Allies Foundation.

The annual list is released each year ahead of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, and includes Christian supporters of Israel—pastors, businesspeople, former politicians, performers and other influential Christians who stand with Israel and the Jewish people.

Fast ranked number 14 on the list of 15 Christian Israel allies. The list was topped by Franklin Graham, son of the influential evangelist Billy Graham, and also included former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Daystar TV co-founder Joni Lamb, Pastor John Hagee, actress Patricia Heaton, Dr. Phil, former US Governor Mike Huckabee, actress Kathie Lee Gifford, Dave Ramsey and other influential Christians.

“I am deeply humbled to be included in such a prestigious list of faith-driven men and women who stand with Israel,” Fast said. “For over 50 years, Bridges for Peace has sought to be a beacon of light, comfort, solidarity, support and love to Jewish people around the world and the State of Israel.”

Fast noted the importance of standing with Israel and the Jewish people especially during this time, as Israel has fought a war of survival for the past year against Hamas and Hezbollah, following Hamas’s brutal attack last year.

Initially the Jewish state held public sympathies as it mourned the 1,200 casualties murdered and the 250 hostages swept away to Gaza.

In response, Israel launched its ground operation shortly after to wipe out the threat of Hamas and rescue its hostages. Last month, Israel launched another operation in southern Lebanon to wipe out the threat of Hezbollah, which has been launching near-daily cross-border attacks in northern Israel for over a year.

Rather than standing with Israel and its right to fight for survival against enemies whose stated goals are to wipe it off the map, public opinion turned against the Jewish state and global antisemitism skyrocketed.

“This light is needed more than ever today in the wake of October 7, 2023,” Fast noted, “as Israel fights for its survival while millions around the world question Israel’s right to exist and shout hate from the streets of cities.”

“I have dedicated my life to being such a light through the work of Bridges for Peace,” Fast continued, “and I stand alongside millions and millions of other Christians around the world who are willing to count the cost in order to oppose evil and stand for righteousness.”

The Israel Allies Foundation’s list is in accordance with biblical prophecy found in Zechariah 14:16, which says in the end times that Gentile nations “…shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

Source: (Bridges for Peace, October 21, 2024)

Photo Credit: Michio Nagata/bridgesforpeace.com

Prayer Focus
Rejoice that Bridges for Peace has been able to stand with Israel for over 50 years and pray for the steadfast endurance to continue that support until the Lord’s return. Give thanks for BFP’s godly leadership, not only in Jerusalem but also in each of our eight national offices. Pray that Bridges for Peace, both as an organization as well as individual members, will complete the race set before they hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servants.”

Scripture

And who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name—and to do for Yourself great and awesome deeds for Your land—before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, the nations, and their gods?

- 2 Samuel 7:23

Hamas Reportedly Shooting Gaza Civilians Trying to Flee War Zone

by Kate Norman

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 | Hamas is shooting civilians who are trying to flee a war zone in northern Gaza, an Israeli paramedic told Israeli media Monday.

Gazan civilians were attempting to evacuate the Jabaliya area in northern Gaza after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued warnings for them to leave ahead of incoming fighting in the region.

However, Cpl. Shai Gilboa, an IDF paramedic, told Israel’s Channel 12 news Monday that their battalion “went into action to exert as much military pressure as possible on Hamas terrorists, who held the civilian population in the area and forbade them from evacuating to a safe area.”

While trying to flee, however, Gilboa said Hamas terrorists began firing at the civilians in an attempt to prevent them from evacuating the area.

“The wounded came to us and we provided them with first aid in the field, which mostly entailed stopping the bleeding,” Gilboa added. She was photographed by Channel 12 treating a Gazan woman with wounds to her face.

The corporal noted that the Gazan civilians and most of the IDF troops have limited contact because of the language barrier, “but they smile at us, they wave goodbye at us, they curse Hamas in front of us.”

“Not only are they not afraid of us,” Gilboa continued, “a lot of them are on our side.”

The IDF began operating in Jabaliya earlier this month in order to thwart a build-up of Hamas operatives in the area. Following its usual pattern, the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings and instructions to civilians ahead of the fighting to prevent civilian casualties.

Last week, however, the IDF published a recording of a conversation between an IDF operative and a Gazan man from the Jabaliya neighborhood who said Hamas was preventing people from evacuating.

“The problem is that when we follow the army’s instructions and try to go to Al-Mawasi [humanitarian zone], there are people who come out against us and start hitting us with sticks, telling us ‘Go back, go back,” the Gazan man said in the recording.

“What should we do?” the man continued. “We want to leave. We took our belongings and wanted to leave, and now they’re hitting us and telling us to ‘go home, go home,’ what should we do?”

Former IDF Spokesperson Eylon Levy posted the recording on X, formerly Twitter, and wrote: “Israel is trying to evacuate Palestinian civilians to safety. Hamas is stopping them.”

Earlier this month, Gaza’s interior ministry, run by Hamas, called on civilians to ignore the IDF warnings to evacuate, alleging that “the occupation is conducting continued bombing and killing every day in the areas it claims to be safe,” the Times of Israel reported.

Israel has proven time and again that it cares more for the lives of Gaza’s civilians than Hamas does. Israel goes out of its way to warn civilians of incoming strikes and issue evacuation warnings and instructions ahead of fighting in a particular area. The IDF has also published several videos in the past of calling off incoming strikes to a terror target because of a civilian in the area.

Hamas, on the other hand, puts its own people in harm’s way, using them as human shields, knowing that the IDF values human life and will pause at striking a target knowing there are innocents in the vicinity. Hamas builds terror tunnels under people’s homes. They store weapons, establish bases of operation and launch rockets from civilian areas, including hospitals, mosques, schools and homes.

And now, according to Cpl. Gilboa, they are shooting their own people to prevent them from fleeing to safety. Why? Once again, to use them as human shields, knowing it will slow the IDF down in their attempt to avoid spilling civilian blood.

Source: (Bridges for Peace, October 23, 2024)

Photo Credit: Al Jazeera English/Flickr.com

Photo License: Flickr

Prayer Focus
Cry out on behalf of the Gazan civilians who are still being held captive and forced to be human shields for the terrorist fighters of Hamas. Pray that this truth will be clearly relayed in the media and to the Western activists who believe the IDF kills indiscriminately. Pray that the day when Gazan civilians are freed from this captivity will come quickly.

Scripture

Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked.

- Psalm 82:4

Hezbollah Attempted Assassination of Netanyahu ‘A Grave Mistake’, Enemies ‘Will Pay’

by Joshua Spurlock ~ Middle East Update

Monday, 21 October 2024 | A Hezbollah explosive drone hit the coastal home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday in the latest escalation in Israel’s war with Iran and its proxies. Neither Netanyahu nor his wife Sara were in the house at the time and no one was injured, Axios reported, citing Netanyahu’s spokesperson. Afterwards, the Jewish leader called the assassination attempt “a grave mistake.”

“This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future,” Netanyahu said on Saturday evening in comments published by his office. “I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price.”

According to the Axios report, three drones were fired into the area in the Israeli town of Caesarea and two were intercepted by Israel. The brazen attack comes as Israel prepares to hit back at Iran for the launch of almost 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 and continues to war with Iranian proxies Hezbollah and Hamas.

Also on Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz slammed claims from Iran’s Embassy to the UN that they were not responsible for the attempted assassination of Netanyahu. In a post to X (formerly Twitter), Katz responded to Iran saying Hezbollah acted alone: “The primary proxy, the tentacle Iran created, funded, armed, trained, and now controls in all its operations, is suddenly portrayed as an independent entity. Your lies and false pretenses won’t help you—you are responsible.”

In his remarks, Netanyahu also implied a threat back to Iran after saying “Iran’s proxy Hezbollah” tried to kill him and his wife: “We will continue to eliminate the terrorists and those who dispatch them.”

With the stakes further elevated, Israel’s anticipated response to Iran looms. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, who has been touring the Middle East to bolster Iran diplomatically against Israel, turned to threats on X—and not just against Israel. Iran is also warning the US.

In a post on October 13, Araghchi referenced recent news that US has deployed troops to Israel to man a missile defense system. After alleging that Iran has—in spite of launching two massive missile attacks on Israel—“made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region” the Iranian Foreign Minister said, “I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests.”

Less than a week later on October 18, Araghchi threatened the US again. Posting a Reuters article of President Joe Biden discussing Israel, Iran’s top diplomat warned, “Anybody with knowledge or understanding of ‘how and when Israel was going to attack Iran’, and/or providing the means and backing for such folly, should logically be held accountable for any possible causality.”

Iran’s inflammatory rhetoric against the US implies a potential escalation in response to an Israeli counterattack on Iran. And after Iran’s top terror proxy targeted Netanyahu, Israel isn’t backing down. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant did not reference Iran in a statement on X about the assassination attempt, but still said it was “intended to harm the State of Israel and its governmental symbols.

“The security establishment will continue to attack any terrorist factor and will strike with force any enemy that harmed or tries to harm the State of Israel—our actions all over the Middle East have proven this to date, and will prove it in the future as well.”

Gallant later noted in his post, “The attempts of the Hezbollah organization to discourage us and prevent us from achieving the goals of the war—will not succeed.”

Source: (This article was originally published by the Middle East Update on October 20, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today.)

Photo Credit: World Economic Forum/ Manuel Lopez/Flickr.com

Photo License: Flickr

Prayer Focus
Give thanks that Iran, through its proxy Hezbollah, failed in the assassination attempt of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pray for the continued safety of Israel’s prime minister as he leads the country during this time of war. Ask the Lord to give wisdom and direction to Israel’s leaders as they formulate a response to this specific attack.

Scripture

Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, who plan evil things in their hearts; they continually gather together for war.

- Psalm 140:1–2

Israel Considers its Response to the Surge in Iran Spies

by Elisha Ben Kimon, Lior Ohana, Itamar Eichner, Liran Tamari ~ Ynetnews

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 | Israeli security agencies were considering how to deal with the surge of spies working for Iran. A senior official in the Shin Bet [Israeli internal security organization] said that there is a systematic Iranian effort to target senior Israelis. On Tuesday, a new cell of operatives working for Iran, this time in eastern Jerusalem, was uncovered. They are suspected of planning the assassination of a nuclear scientist and the mayor of a city in central Israel.

On Monday, the Shin Bet said it arrested seven others, all members of a family who immigrated from Azerbaijan. According to the police, they had been carrying out missions for Iran for two years, before they were captured.

“According to the information gathered in the defense establishment, scientists, mayors, defense establishment senior officials, and other Israeli officials were the targets of Iranian operatives,” the Shin Bet official said. “The key to dealing with this is, first of all, a severe punishment that will deter collaborators. People will understand that this is treason, a violation of state security, serving the enemy during wartime.” He said law enforcement and the prosecution should consider financial penalties such as the freezing of assets in addition to denial of citizenship.

A number of Israelis were arrested after they agreed to carry out missions on behalf of Iranian intelligence operatives in recent months. The security officials said security services were aware and had increased their efforts to uncover such plots.

“Public awareness on the subject can help people understand more, suspect more and be more vigilant when contacted over social media,” he said, warning people not to click on unknown links, not to engage with suspicious strangers and to avoid answering unknown emails.

Meanwhile, the mayor who was targeted for assassination was notified of the threat against him. “Threats are not new to us, even from criminal elements. I, as mayor, do not shy away from it. There have been mayors who have bolstered the security around themselves, and that is how I will continue to act. I have dedicated my life to the public from a very young age, nothing deters me, I am focused purely on promoting the city and caring for every resident,” he said.

The arrest of the eastern Jerusalem cell, made up of men between the ages of 19 and 23, led interrogators to Iranian intelligence agents who were recruiting Israelis to carry out missions.

One of the detainees, a 23-year-old Israeli citizen, was suspected of contacting a foreign agent and recruited to perform various tasks in Israel. The investigation revealed that the suspect recruited the other members of the cell to carry out the missions they received from the Iranian regime. Those involved sprayed graffiti in various places throughout the country, setting vehicles on fire in ​​Jerusalem, and gathering intelligence.

“For Every Reported Arrest, There Are Ten More”

According to a source in the police, for every arrest of operatives working for Iran, there are 10 more cases being investigated. He said the police often stop the suspects before they carry out Iranian instructions that they would never be able to walk back from.

But revealing the spy ring of Israelis working for Iran for years, sending photos of military bases and pinpointing sensitive sites, was an eye opener and a clear sign of escalation. The suspects told their interrogators that their motive for working for Iran was financial. Some had been in debt and the Iranians were willing to pay them well.

They also said that although they loved the people in Israel, they did not feel like they belong.

Source: (This article was originally published by Ynetnews on October 22, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Rainerzufall1234/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia

Prayer Focus
Pray that any sensitive information that has been gathered and delivered to the Iranians will be not be correctly interpreted. Praise God that the plans to assassinate an Israeli mayor and nuclear scientist were discovered before they could be carried out. Pray also that the Shin Bet and other security forces in Israel will be successful in uncovering anyone else who is collaborating with Iran.

Scripture

Though his hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

- Proverbs 26:26-27

Hamas Funding Thrives in Europe

by David Isaac ~ JNS

Tuesday, 22 October 2024 | The Hamas terror organization has managed to increase its fundraising efforts in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK since its terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, according to four reports that the European Leadership Network [ELNET] released this month.

The reports from ELNET, which convenes leaders to foster close relations between Europe and Israel, focus on the activities of Hamas-affiliated fundraising groups in the five countries.

“In all four reports, we have seen increasing levels of operations since October 7,” Daniel Shadmy, an ELNET spokesman, told JNS.

The reports identify some 30 organizations, which operate under “civil fronts,” including nonprofits and lobbying groups, and people affiliated with Hamas who work in Europe.

Hamas’s funding operations are more deeply rooted in the UK and Germany than in the other countries upon which the report focuses. That makes them “harder to dismantle” in the two countries, according to Shadmy.

Hamas-affiliated groups operate relatively unscathed in Europe, despite European governments and the European Union [EU] designating Hamas a terror organization.

One way the groups stay ahead of authorities is by shifting operations to newer organizations, per the ELNET reports.

“One of the key findings of the report is that the Hamas-affiliated network has shut down three older, pan-European organizations, possibly in response to formal designations, and moved their operations to three newer organizations,” Shadmy told JNS.

“The ‘replacement organizations’ were established and are led in whole or in part by the same six individuals who led the initially dissolved groups,” per the reports, which name the six as Adel Abdallah Doghman, Mohammad Hannoun, Majed Al-Zeer, Amin Abou Rashed, Zaher Birawi and Mazen Kahel.

The organizations that make up the “new” circle include the Palestinians in Europe Conference, the European Palestinian Council for Political Relations and the European Palestinians Initiative for National Action.

There is the European failure to enforce penalties on those associated with the terror group, per the reports.

“There is a gap between the sanctions or designations in place and the willingness or operational capability of European governments or the EU institutions to enforce them, which leads to this situation,” Shadmy told JNS.

Many of the organizations that ELNET identified are not officially registered, “raising concerns about their transparency, activities and true objectives in Europe,” per the reports.

Some of those activities include lobbying EU officials, delivering material support to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, influencing the public via media relations and “legitimizing Hamas-affiliated actors to European policymakers without disclosing their Hamas ties,” the reports state.

ELNET calls on European governments to investigate and shut down the Hamas-affiliated organizations and asks banks and financial institutions to monitor the Hamas-affiliated individuals mentioned in the reports and review their financial activity.

ELNET also hopes that its reports will be a resource for research institutions and think tanks to expose publicly Hamas’s European fundraising.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on October 21, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: ELNET/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Give thanks for the diligence of the ELNET researchers who uncovered the fact that Hamas is the true destination of funds raised by these seemingly innocent “civil fronts”. Pray that this information will be used by governments to enforce sanctions against the 30 organizations that are supporting Hamas, a designated terrorist group. Pray especially for the Hamas-affiliated fundraisers in the UK and Germany, asking that their deep and hidden roots would be exposed and cut off.

Scripture

For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit, which they have dug without cause for my life. Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, and let his net that he has hidden catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall.

- Psalm 35:7–8

Former UN Soldier Stationed in Lebanon: ‘We Were Totally Subject to Hezbollah’

by JNS

Tuesday, 22 October 2024 | A former UN soldier in southern Lebanon told the Danish tabloid BT on Sunday that during his service there 10 years ago, “we were totally subject to Hezbollah.”

The Danish citizen, who the article named “Michael,” was deployed as part of UNTSO  (UN Truce Supervision Organization), which works closely with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.

UNTSO is tasked with observing and reporting violations of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006 and calls on the Iranian terror proxy to disarm and not venture south of the Litani River, which flows east to west and runs parallel to the Israeli–Lebanon border.

“We were totally subject to Hezbollah,” says Michael. “We clearly had limited freedom of movement. For example, we never operated after dark for fear of Hezbollah. So they had free time in the evening and night hours.”

He emphasized that he was speaking for himself as a private individual and not on behalf of UNTSO. He said when he and his colleagues at UNTSO and UNIFIL would drive around different cities in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah members would often stop them when they were attempting to enter areas where they believed that Hezbollah might be operating.

“They simply blocked the road. They were not visibly armed but aggressive, and it was quite clear that they were members of Hezbollah. We knew very well who decided things, especially in the Shi’ite cities. They didn’t want us to see what they were doing,” said Michael.

“When we patrolled the Blue Line, we often saw ‘civilians’ very close to the Israeli military installations taking pictures. When that happened, we withdrew and observed from a distance; we were simply instructed to do so,” he added.

They were not allowed to document any of the activities.

“It was forbidden to film and take pictures. And if we did, we could end up with the locals confiscating our cameras. It happened to my colleagues in UNIFIL and UNTSO,” he said.

He also discussed Hezbollah’s control of southern Lebanon.

“The civilians who did not care about Hezbollah, especially the Christians, were afraid to speak out against them. There was a widespread fear of them. But at the same time, we experienced cooperation with the Shia Muslims. For example, we had a number of interpreters who were indoctrinated into Hezbollah. I ended up throwing one of them out of my car once while he was praising Hassan Nasrallah. I simply didn’t want to listen to it,” he recalled.

Michael described how no actions were taken against the violations of UN Resolution 1701.

“We reported daily violations of Resolution 1701 to our superiors, including restrictions on our freedom of movement, and we were instructed to report all violations regardless of number. But nothing ever happened,” he said. “We did not hear back from them, and nothing was initiated. It was wildly frustrating and only confirmed what I had experienced in other countries I was posted to: The UN is incompetent.”

Report: Hezbollah Paid UNIFIL to Use Positions

Citing security sources, Israel Hayom reported on Sunday that Hezbollah terrorists who have been captured admitted during interrogations that the terror group paid money to UNIFIL in exchange for using their positions in the region.

The sources also said that Hezbollah took control of UNIFIL surveillance cameras in compounds near the Israeli border and utilized them for their own purposes.

These alleged bribes and use of UNIFIL equipment violate its mandate. According to the report, given the accusations that it is collaborating with Hezbollah, Israel will not work with UNIFIL on any future arrangements for southern Lebanon but with the Lebanese army.

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on October 21, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Basel Awidat/Flash90/jns.org

Prayer Focus
Pray that the IDF will be completely successful in its operations to remove armed Hezbollah forces from the border area with Israel. Ask the Lord to shine a floodlight of international attention on UNIFIL so that the UN’s corruption and incompetence cannot be ignored or explained away. Pray that Israeli citizens who were evacuated from communities along the border over one year ago will be able to return to their homes in safety.

Scripture

Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.

- Psalm 7:9