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Every week, we post seven to ten news stories from Israel with a suggested prayer focus and scripture for each one, guiding readers how to pray for Israel’s most urgent needs. This Prayer Update is also sent to over 18,000 subscribers every Friday by e-mail. Sign up HERE if you would like to receive this Prayer Update by e-mail.
IDF Chief Reviews Readiness in ‘All Arenas’ Following Lebanon Blasts
by JNS
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi leads a situational assessment
Wednesday, 18 September 2024 | Israel Defense Forces [IDF] Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi convened a situational assessment focusing on readiness in “offense and defense in all arenas” on Tuesday night, the IDF said, after Hezbollah blamed the Jewish state for blasts in Lebanon that killed several terrorists and wounded thousands more.
Halevi “held a situational assessment this evening with the participation of the General Staff Forum,” which includes around 30 of the Israeli military’s most senior commanders, according to the IDF.
“The IDF spokesman wishes to clarify that, at this stage, there is no change in the directives of the Home Front Command. Vigilance must continue to be maintained, and any change in policy will be updated immediately,” the statement added.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the pager explosions that wounded at least 3,000 and killed at least nine terrorists in Lebanon and Syria earlier on Tuesday, saying Jerusalem will get “its fair punishment” in response.
The statement warned that “this treacherous and criminal enemy will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression from where it expects it or does not expect it,” according to a translation by Lebanon’s al Mayadeen, which is affiliated with the terrorist group.
Approximately 200 terrorists were in critical condition in 100 Lebanese hospitals, Beirut’s health minister, Firass Abiad, announced some three hours after the blasts were first reported at 3.30 p.m. local time.
Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been wounded in the blasts. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also hurt in one of the explosions, Tehran’s semi-official Mehr outlet reported.
The IDF declined to comment on the incident, which came just hours after the Israeli Cabinet added the return of citizens displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals, bringing a potential major clash with Hezbollah closer to reality.
A US official told ABC News on Tuesday evening that while Hezbollah and Iran are likely to retaliate for the alleged explosive hack, “it could take them time to do so while they assess what happened.”
The IDF’s Home Front Command has reportedly informed local authorities of a possible escalation on the border with Lebanon but stressed that there are currently no changes to instructions for citizens.
Israel’s defense establishment believes that Hezbollah is preparing for a large-scale assault in response to Tuesday’s attack in Lebanon, the Kan News public broadcaster reported on Tuesday night.
After Hezbollah accused Israel of being behind the explosions, the alert level in the Jewish state was raised, Kan News reported, adding that Home Front Command had boosted its deployment in the Haifa area.
The Magen David Adom emergency response group in Israel called on the public to come donate blood at the northern city’s municipal sports complex.
In addition, officials with Israel’s Transportation Ministry discussed the prospect of escalation with Hezbollah on Tuesday. The senior officials discussed preparations at Haifa Port and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, as well as other emergency scenarios.
According to the Kan News report, the alert level was raised at all of Israel’s seaports, including Eilat Port.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily since October 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have so far killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of civilians remain internally displaced due to the violence.
Photo Credit: IDF/jns.org
Prayer Focus
As the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah continue to heat up, pray for the IDF soldiers and commanders. Pray for a quick and decisive victory over Hezbollah and for the citizens of northern Israel who will also be on the front lines of this battle for Israel’s survival. Cry out to the Lord, who is their shield and protector, to defeat this enemy.
Scripture
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Unpacking the Hostages–Ceasefire Dilemma
by Ilse Strauss
A memorial in Tel Aviv dedicated to the hostages in Gaza.
Tuesday, 17 September 2024 | It’s supposed to be simple, mainstream media tells you. The war between Israel and Hamas could be over in minutes. The hostages could come home, the suffering would cease and everything would go back to the way it was on October 6. All that’s needed is for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to budge a bit, to compromise on his demands. Judging from all the demonstrations, that’s what the people of Israel want. And after nearly a year of war, that’s surely what Hamas wants too.
Ah yes. If mainstream media is to be believed, Israel is a nation in complete uproar over its leader’s failure to reach an agreement with Hamas, who, in turn, is rearing for peace to return and is thus eager to see the hostages safely home—provided that Israel can just compromise.
It’s not as black and white as that though. In fact, as with everything in the Middle East, the situation is infinitely more intricate than one would hope—and rather immune to solutions that would seem logical to a Western mindset.
First things first, let me be clear. The nation of Israel faces terrible choices. Regardless of what Jerusalem chooses, someone gets hurt. But choose Israel must. Hamas made sure of that.
The attack on October 7 went well beyond the worst atrocity inflicted on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It also backed Israel into a corner, forcing its hand to make some of the most terrible choices imaginable. Hamas triggered the avalanche on October 7, and then retreated to the safety of their tunnels to watch their civilians bear the brunt of the retaliation and marvel at the world condemning the Jewish state—as they knew it would, as they planned it would.
Moreover, the terror group is going to great lengths to fan the flames of psychological warfare. Early this month, German paper Bild exposed the contents of confidential documents obtained from the computer of a senior Hamas leader, unveiling the terror group’s calculated strategy to exploit hostages, manipulate Israeli public opinion and rebuild its military capabilities—all under the guise of ceasefire negotiations.
The strategy, which was reportedly approved by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar personally, entails intentionally abusing hostages to leverage its negotiating position. It also advocates for “exerting psychological pressure on the families of the [hostages]…so that public pressure on the enemy government increases” and sowing discord among the Israeli public to pressure the government to agree to the terms of a deal and extend a ceasefire to Hamas’s benefit.
The document further reveals Hamas isn’t interested in a quick end to the war. And although its “military capacity has been weakened,” the terror organization is planning to “reorganize our ranks and military capabilities.”
The document further stresses painting Israel as the scapegoat, bearing the full responsibility of failed negotiations. If Israel rejects a deal tabled by the US, “the media must be made aware that Hamas agreed, but that the deal failed due to Israel’s stubbornness.” At no time should Hamas ever be seen to be “responsible for the failure of an agreement,” a translation of the document reads.
Yet in what Bild described as unusual, the document makes no mention of Gazan civilians, underscoring Hamas’s cruel practice of using their people as expendable pawns to achieve their goal.
Hamas’s strategy has been a roaring success.
Let’s take the Israeli public. The incremental release of photos and video footage of hostages held within Gaza, the cold-blooded execution of six hostages at the end of August and the blatant public statement by a Hamas spokesperson that hostages would be murdered if the Israel Defense Forces come close to rescuing them have wrought havoc on the hearts and minds of Israelis—as Hamas knew it would, as Hamas planned it would.
Keep in mind that the Israeli population is tiny, which means everyone personally knows someone held hostage in Gaza. This is not something happening somewhere to someone else. This is family.
The sorrow and anger have divided Israel into largely two camps. One camp holds the government and its leader, Netanyahu, responsible, taking to the streets to demand a deal—any deal—that would see the hostages safely home. While the mainstream media focusses on the demonstrations, there is another camp. Many Israelis see through Hamas’s strategy. They argue that a deal at any cost might save the lives of the remaining hostages, but in a way that would ensure many more Israeli hostages and victims in the future.
Yes, there’s disagreement. Yes, there’s a split. But perhaps the dilemma can be best understood when viewed from a personal perspective. If it were my child, mother, father or sibling in captivity, I would most certainly be part of the Israeli society pushing for a ceasefire deal. On the other hand, if I were a citizen of a sovereign country that had been attacked by a jihadist organization in one of the worst terror attacks in history, a jihadist organization that pledged to repeat the attack, I would also want my government to make every effort to ensure that they never get the opportunity to make good on that promise.
Personal perspectives aside, there are some questions that beg answers in the hostage–ceasefire dilemma. First, is it really in the Israeli government’s power to make or break such a deal? Second, if yes, at what cost? Third, is this a cost Israel can afford to pay?
Perhaps the first question has the simplest answer. US President Joe Biden unveiled the original framework for a hostage–ceasefire deal on May 31. Both Israel and Hamas agreed to it. Yet the deal was then split into three phases, with the details of each phase to be negotiated. So far, the attention has been on Phase One.
Then, on August 16, the US presented a Final Bridging Proposal. Israel agreed. Hamas did not. In fact, as negotiators gathered in Doha in middle August to hammer out the details of Phase One, Hamas representatives refused to attend, despite the fact that some of the terror group’s members call Qatar home.
Days later, Hamas executed six hostages, some of whom were on the list of hostages to be released in Phase One. In other words, Hamas murdered the very hostages who were the subject of the negotiations, thus technically rendering the deal void. The Americans considered the executions such a breach that they called into question Hamas’s commitment to agreeing to any deal, or whether the terror group saw the negotiations as a stalling technique and a ploy for sympathy. In fact, the Americans has gone as far as describing Hamas, not Israel, as the obstacle.
It didn’t stop with the six murdered hostages either. A senior US official admitted days after their death during a press briefing, “Hamas has been putting some things on the table that have been complete nonstarters [regarding] the exchange, and they’re different than what was agreed months ago.”
Then came the publication of the Hamas strategy authorized by Sinwar, which spells out the terror group’s deception in black and white: use the hostages to sow discord in Israel; divide the public; agree to nothing; blame Israel for the lack of agreement—and garner international sympathy in the process.
There’s also the matter of the Philadelphi Corridor [Israeli code name for the strip of land between Gaza and Egypt], which is often hailed as the sticking point in the negotiations. Is it really though?
Netanyahu is indeed standing firm that any deal to secure a ceasefire in exchange for the hostages must include an Israeli presence on the 8.5-mile-long [13.6 km.] strip of land that marks the border between Gaza and Egypt. Why? Over the past two months, the IDF has uncovered more than 150 tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor, offering easy passage from Egypt to Gaza and back. Some of these tunnels are large enough for cars to drive through. Some were dug straight under Egyptian army posts. It is these tunnels that Iran used to arm and equip Hamas’s arsenal with tens of thousands of missiles, automatic weapons, RPGs and more to be used against Israel—before October 7, on that fateful day and in its aftermath.
Hamas has stated unequivocally that they would repeat the October 7 attack. In fact, according to Hamas’s founding charter, the terror organization’s reason for existence is not the prosperity of the Palestinian people but the destruction of Israel. And if the Philadelphi Corridor remains in Hamas’s grasp, it might take few years, but the terror group will rearm—courtesy of Iran—and attack Israel again for October 7 II.
“The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi Corridor; for this reason, we need the Philadelphi Corridor,” Netanyahu said. “This corridor determines our entire future.”
Israel’s Security Cabinet agrees. On August 29, they voted to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position that Israel must maintain a military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor indefinitely. Only Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voted against.
That explains the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor. But is it the sticking point? The Americans say no. According to the mediators of the deal, the much-debated buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt was not even the main focus of the talks in Doha in August. In fact, Israel has actually agreed to reduce its forces along the Philadelphi Corridor to help advance the deal, despite the original framework deal on May 31 not even mentioning the Philadelphi Corridor. Phase One calls for the IDF to withdraw only from populated areas in Gaza, and although the Philadelphi Corridor does intersect with some populated areas, it is not classified as a populated area.
Where does all this leave Israel? With terrible choices. Regardless of what Jerusalem chooses, someone gets hurt. And judging by the past 11 months, the international community will be right alongside Israel—not in solidarity or support—but pointing an accusatory finger.
For there to be peace in Israel and Gaza, Israel must defeat Hamas—for Israel’s sake, but also for that of the Palestinians. Let’s be clear. Hamas has never been a Palestinian liberation movement. It’s an identity foisted on the terror group by Western liberals on college campuses in the aftermath of the October 7 attack to fit an anti-Israel narrative. In truth, Hamas has been shockingly clear about their objective, which has never been the peaceful coexistence of a Jewish and Palestinian state flourishing side-by-side. Hamas’s raison d’etre is spelled out in its founding charter, and entails the annihilation of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state on every inch of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
In short? Hamas is not fighting for the well-being of the Palestinians. Hamas is fighting for the destruction of Israel—and they are using the Palestinians as cannon fodder in their fight.
Source: (Bridges for Peace, September 17, 2024)
Photo Credit: Yossipik/Wikimedia.org
Photo License: Wikimedia
Prayer Focus
In light of the complexities involved with the negotiations, cry out for the hostages who have suffered indescribably for nearly one year in captivity and for their family members who long to embrace them and see their healing begin. Pray for the encouragement and strength for all who have been affected by this atrocity.
Scripture
He [the LORD] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Five Israeli Hospitals Rank Among World’s Best Smart Hospitals
by Oren Reiss ~ Ynetnews
Sheba Medical Center, in Tel Aviv, is a leader in medical training simulations (pictured), treatment and research.
Thursday, 19 September 2024 | Five Israeli hospitals made it onto the list of 350 top hospitals worldwide for implementing new medical technologies, as ranked by Newsweek in collaboration with Statista in their fourth annual report released on Tuesday.
Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv was ranked 10th on the list. Other Israeli hospitals on the list, ranked between 101 and 350, include Hadassah Medical Center, Rabin Medical Center, Rambam Health Care Campus and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.
According to various estimates, 115 million people across the world will receive virtual consultations from doctors via telemedicine services this year, in addition to major advancements in digital imaging, artificial intelligence and robotics, which will allow for faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment. Israel is a technological hub producing and selling many of these innovations worldwide.
Newsweek selected 350 hospitals from 28 countries that excelled in implementing new medical technologies. The US leads the list with 104 hospitals, followed by Germany with 27, the UK with 22, Italy with 21, France with 20 and both Spain and South Korea with 15 hospitals each.
Israel, like Finland and Norway, has five hospitals represented. Saudi Arabia has four hospitals on the list, the UAE has three and Lebanon has one. The top 100 hospitals were ranked numerically, while those from 101 onward were listed alphabetically. Aside from Sheba, none of the Israeli hospitals made it into the top 100.
The ranking was determined through a global survey of healthcare professionals conducted by Statista, assessments of technology utilization at facilities and assessment by the Joint Commission International (JCI), a standard that evaluates patient care quality and safety.
Peer recommendations, which were a major factor in the ranking, involved hospital managers and healthcare professionals knowledgeable about smart hospitals recommending top smart hospitals worldwide.
They highlighted areas such as electronic functionality (for instance, available patient portal options), telemedicine, digital imaging, AI, robotics and virtualization (for instance, use of virtual and augmented reality in patient services or departments).
Sheba Medical Center noted that this marks the fourth consecutive year the hospital has been included in the prestigious list. In recent months, the hospital has become a producer of advanced medical technology companies which were sold in exit deals estimated to be worth close to US $1 billion.
Sheba Medical Center Director-General Prof. Yitshak Kreiss said, “The entrepreneurial and creative DNA that generates company exits valued at about US $1 billion is also what makes this medical center one of the smartest hospitals in the world. The day when the healthcare system will become the leading engine of innovation in Israel isn’t far off.”
Prof. Eyal Zimlichman, Sheba’s Chief Transformation Officer and head of the Accelerate, Redesign and Collaborate (ARC) global innovation program which connects doctors and researchers with investors worldwide, added, “In recent years, we have seen a leap forward in medical technologies and devices, setting a new standard for advanced care.”
“At Sheba’s ARC innovation department, we identify needs and developments via collaboration between entrepreneurs and clinicians, turning them into the latest technological innovations in AI, robotics and digitization, all to allow for better and more efficient medical care,” he added.
Hadassah Medical Center Director-General Prof. Yoram Weiss also commented on the hospital’s inclusion in the list. “We’re proud of our oncology and cardiology teams, who again appear in this prestigious list, as well as our technology, scientific and research teams, whose efforts have earned us recognition as one of the world’s smartest hospitals.”
“Hadassah ensures that its excellent professionals are supported by cutting-edge technologies in all fields of medicine, including the integration of AI, building international data repositories and collaborations with the world’s leading companies in science and medicine. The reward for these efforts is seen in the thousands of patients who recover each year from illness and pain and return home,” he said.
Photo Credit: US Embassy Tel Aviv/Wikimedia.org
Photo License: Wikimedia
Prayer Focus
Give thanks to the Lord that He has gifted His people with creativity and innovation in the medical field. Pray for the continued development of advanced technologies that will aid in healing many, fulfilling God’s promise that Israel would be a blessing to the nations.
Scripture
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Russia Shares Nuclear Secrets with Iran, Rattles West
by David Isaac ~ JNS
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Monday, 16 September 2024 | Russia is sharing secret nuclear information and technology with Iran in exchange for ballistic missiles to wage its war on Ukraine, sparking concern in the US and UK, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.
US and UK officials discussed the situation in Washington, D.C. last week, according to the report.
They expressed deep concern about Iran and North Korea’s supply of lethal weapons to Russia and China’s support to Russia’s defense industrial base, according to a White House readout.
“Moscow is sharing technology that Iran needs, including on nuclear issues. And, of course, we know that Russia also shares some space information with Iran. And we’ve been working with our allies to ensure that there is a significant consequence to this action,” White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby told the press on September 12.
He said the UK, France and Germany would suspend “certain lucrative commercial ties with Iran.” The US would supplement the action with sanctions, including against Iran’s national airline, Iran Air.
Iran has long used its ostensibly civilian airlines for military purposes. In 2019, France banned Iran’s Mahan Air from entering the country for its role in shipping troops and arms to Syria and other Middle Eastern hotspots.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meeting UK Foreign Minister David Lammy in London last week to open the UK–US Strategic Dialogue, confirmed that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran.
“We’ve warned Tehran publicly, we’ve warned Tehran privately that taking this step would constitute a dramatic escalation,” said Blinken.
(Iran has provided Russia with hundreds of drones since its invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.)
Lammy and Blinken “both agreed that Iran’s nuclear program had never been more advanced and posed a clear threat to regional and global peace and security,” read a joint statement released by the UK Foreign Office on September 14.
Also on Saturday, the foreign ministers of the G7 [United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK] nations condemned “in the strongest terms” Iran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
“Iran must immediately cease all support to Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine,” the group said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and Iran’s embassy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna didn’t respond to requests for comment, according to Bloomberg.
On September 10, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that US claims that Iran provided ballistic missiles to Russia are “ugly propaganda.”
“Spreading false and misleading news about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is just an ugly propaganda and lie with the aim of concealing the dimensions of the massive illegal arms support of the US and some Western countries for the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he wrote, referring to Israel’s 11-month war with Hamas.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that Iran would be prevented from completing its preparations for nuclear weapons, whether through the trading of technological know-how from Russia or by any other means. Pray that Western nations will enforce the sanctions they are proposing and not back down.
Scripture
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’
Blinken in Egypt to press Israel–Hamas Ceasefire
by JNS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Egypt to discuss ceasefire deals with Egyptian officials (illustrative).
Wednesday, 18 September 2024 | US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday morning, his tenth trip to the Middle East since Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
“The secretary will meet with Egyptian officials to discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of all hostages, alleviates the suffering of the Palestinian people, and helps establish broader regional security,” according to the US State Department.
Washington is still working with Egypt and Qatar to come up with a revised Israel–Hamas ceasefire deal, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.
No timetable was presented for a new draft agreement, but Miller said the US was “working expeditiously to try to develop that proposal.”
Blinken said last week that more than 90% of the issues have been agreed to by both Israel and Hamas.
“So, we’re down to a handful of issues, not even a handful of issues that are hard but fully resolvable in our judgment. And as we’ve said before, when you get down to the last 10%, the last 10 meters, those are almost by definition the hardest ground to cover, but we believe that these are fully resolvable,” said Blinken.
“Right now, we are working with our Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to work together to bridge any remaining gaps, and in the coming time, very soon, we’ll put that before the parties, and we’ll see what they say,” he added.
In Monday’s comments, Miller confirmed the two main obstacles to reaching an agreement: Jerusalem’s insistence on maintaining security control of the buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt, called the Philadelphi Corridor; and specifics regarding the Palestinian terrorists to be released from Israeli prisons in return for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Photo Credit: Freddie Everett/US State Department/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Intercede for Israel’s leaders, especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who are under intense pressure from within the country as well as from the nations of the world. Pray that they will cry out to the Lord for wisdom as they face questions such as a ceasefire deal with Hamas which has proven itself to be untrustworthy and unreliable.
Scripture
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; and deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, for Your name’s sake! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Report: Anti-Israel Activity on Campuses Skyrocket by 477%
by JNS
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, and Deborah Lipstadt, US special envoy, at the Anti-Defamation League’s “Never Is Now” conference.
Monday, 16 September 2024 | The 2,087 anti-Israel incidents of assault, vandalism, harassment, protests and divestment resolutions that the Anti-Defamation League [ADL] recorded on US campuses between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024 represent a 477% increase over the prior academic year, per a report the nonprofit released on Monday.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, stated that the level of antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment on campus in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks is unprecedented.
“Since the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, the anti-Israel movement’s relentless harassment, vandalism, intimidations and violent physical assaults go way beyond the peaceful voicing of a political opinion,” he stated.
“Administrators and faculty need to do much better this year to ensure a safe and truly inclusive environment for all students, regardless of religion, nationality or political views,” he added. “They need to start now.”
The ADL report notes that campus activism frequently includes expressions of support for US-designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
“One emblematic incident occurred on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University, when protesters chanted, ‘al-Qassam you make us proud, kill another soldier now!’” the report states, referring to a pro-Hamas chant.
“Activists also chanted ‘we are Hamas’ and ‘we will never let up and we will never let down until Palestine is free, Zionism is destroyed, and Zionists start to hide like the Nazis,’” it added.
The media and Congress have largely focused on anti-Israel protests at elite institutions like Columbia University, the ADL identified 1,418 protests in 46 states and the District of Columbia at some 360 schools.
That included more than 150 “encampment” protests with students attempting to occupy buildings or grounds.
The report also recorded 28 assaults, 201 incidents of vandalism, 360 incidents of harassment and 80 “boycott, divestment and sanctions” resolutions against Israel. Each of those categories saw a dramatic increase from the number of incidents the ADL recorded in the previous academic year.
Photo Credit: ADL/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that university and college administrators will not be intimidated by the anti-Israel protests which have gone far beyond peacefully voicing a political opinion. Pray that the slogans that are being chanted will be recognized as the hate speech they are and appropriate action taken. Pray for the safety of Jewish students who are in the midst of this battle.
Scripture
Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head.
UN General Assembly Passes Resolution Calling for Jerusalem Old City to be Jew-free
by Mike Wagenheim ~ JNS
UN Secretary-General António Guterres
Thursday, 19 September 2024 | Jerusalem’s Old City, in addition to Judea and Samaria, must be Judenrein [Nazi term for an area “clean of Jews”] within a year, according to a Palestinian-drafted resolution, which the UN General Assembly [UNGA] passed on Wednesday.
The resolution, which passed by a 124–14 margin with 43 abstentions, is meant to give force to a July advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice [ICJ], which declared Israeli presence to be illegal in any area over the 1949 armistice line.
More than 40 countries sponsored the resolution, which was the first that Palestinians filed after being granted unprecedented privileges, for a non-UN member, earlier this year.
The resolution calls on the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] to withdraw completely from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within 12 months, which means evacuating all Jewish communities beyond the armistice line, including Jerusalem’s Old City.
It also bans arms sales to the IDF of any equipment that would be expected reasonably to be used in the territory over the 1949 lines and calls for a boycott of all products produced by Jews in those areas.
The resolution text lacks any mention of Israeli security concerns, historic ties to the lands or Hamas’s terror attacks in Israel on October 7.
The vote came after a day of debate on Tuesday.
Argentina, Czechia, Fiji, Hungary, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu and the US joined Israel in opposing the resolution.
Notably, Germany, the UK, Canada, Italy, Ukraine and Australia were among those who abstained.
General Assembly resolutions have no legal force, but the resolution’s passage on Wednesday is expected to be used in international courts and other forms to seek additional action against the Jewish state.
It is widely expected that the Palestinians will request that the UN Security Council take up the issue. Security Council resolutions are binding, but the United States would be expected to thwart such an effort, including with its veto power.
‘Further Fuel on Worldwide Antisemitism’
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, called it “a shameful decision that backs the Palestinian Authority’s [PA] diplomatic terrorism.”
He added that the UNGA “continues to dance to the music of the PA, which backs the Hamas murderers.”
Before the vote, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters he would back the implementation of the resolution should it pass.
Seth Riklin and Daniel Mariaschin, president and CEO, respectively, of B’nai B’rith International [“Sons of the Covenant” Jewish service organization], said the international nonprofit is “appalled” by the “atrocious” resolution.
“B’nai B’rith International strongly condemns the UNGA’s passage of the first resolution officially sponsored by Palestinians days after they became the first non-member state group further upgraded to many member state privileges at the General Assembly, despite the world body’s own rules and practices,” they said.
“Coming from an assembly in which Arab and other pro-Palestinian governments wield an automatic majority to annually condemn Israel more than all other countries combined, the motion is unprecedented in its shamelessly one-sided endorsement of Palestinian claims and political demands, and further erodes the UN’s credibility as a serious contributor to promoting conflict-resolution and universal human rights,” they added.
“Shame on all countries that enabled this atrocious affront to justice and peace as part of the latest UNGA ’emergency session’ on the Middle East that does nothing to help seriously address and settle the emergency,” Riklin and Mariaschin said.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations condemned the “biased and dangerous” resolution strongly, Harriet Schleifer and William Daroff, chair and CEO respectively said. They called it “the latest salvo in an obsessive, decades-long campaign against Israel.”
“Attempting to isolate Israel in this manner is undoubtedly a threat to her national security as she faces terror threats on all sides and offensive to her status as the only democracy in the Middle East and therefore cannot be accepted by the international community,” they added.
Arsen Ostrovsky and Nadav Steinman, CEO and board chair, respectively, of the International Legal Forum, stated that “today, simply put, the UN has become the diplomatic arm of Hamas” and that the resolution “is just the latest in a litany of obscenely one-sided anti-Israel resolutions at the UN since October 7.”
“All it does is reward the murderers, rapists and abductors of Hamas while pouring further fuel on worldwide antisemitism and eroding whatever remaining credibility of the already problematic and politicized ICJ, upon which this resolution is meant to be based,” they added. “Ultimately, peace will only prevail when Hamas is defeated and the hostages are released, not through tiresome antics and pyrrhic Palestinian ‘victories’ at the UN.”
Photo Credit: Mark Garten/UN Photo/jns.org
Prayer Focus
In the face of the world’s arrogance, proclaim the words of Psalm 132 which declares Jerusalem to be the eternal dwelling place of God Himself. As He chose Jerusalem to be His dwelling, He also chose the Jewish people as His special treasure (Exod. 19:5). The UN’s resolution calling for a Jew-free Jerusalem is a direct attack on God Himself.
Scripture
For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.”
‘Iran Using Houthis’ Yemen as Weapons ‘Testing Ground’
by Yaakov Lappin ~ JNS
A firefighter extinguishes a blaze after a Yemeni missile hit near Moshav Kfar Daniel, between Modi’in and Ben Gurion Airport
Monday, 16 September 2024 | Israeli air defense officials are reviewing the performance of Israel Air Force [IAF] detection and interception capabilities on Sunday, hours after the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen fired a surface-to-surface missile that set off sirens across central Israel.
According to the Israel Defense Forces [IDF], at 6:21 a.m. on Sunday morning, the missile was launched from Yemen towards Israeli territory, and it likely fragmented mid-air, according to preliminary findings.
The attack triggered several interception attempts by Israel’s Arrow and Iron Dome defense systems, the IDF said. These attempts, and the effectiveness of the interceptions, are under review. Warning sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.
IDF Lt. Col. (res.) Michael Segal, an expert on Iranian strategic issues who is today chief information officer at the Tel Aviv-based Acumen Risk intelligence and risk management consultancy, told JNS that in recent years, Yemen has served as Iran’s largest testing ground for various types of weapons.
“During the Saudi coalition’s operations in Yemen, following the Houthi takeover of parts of the country during the Arab Spring, the Houthis fired a wide range of missiles, drones and rockets at strategic sites in Saudi Arabia, including oil facilities and airports. Yemen, where active fighting continues in various regions, offers Iran an opportunity to test a variety of weapons, from roadside bombs, sniper rifles and anti-tank weapons to ballistic missiles and drones,” Segal said.
“These weapons are transferred to the Houthis either as complete systems or in parts and are assembled in Yemen,” he continued.
Since early September, the Houthis have downed two American MQ-9 Reaper drones, likely using Iranian 358 surface-to-air missiles, which are also likely in the possession of Hezbollah in Lebanon and pro-Iran militias in Iraq.
Iran’s strategy of integrating the Houthis into the “axis of resistance” proved successful after Hamas’s October 7 mass murder attack, when the Houthis joined the campaign in the Red Sea, disrupting Israeli shipping routes and severely damaging Egypt’s revenue from the Suez Canal, Segal noted.
In August, a Houthi drone expert, Hussein Mastour al-Shabeel, was killed in a US strike on the Kata’ib Hezbollah Shiite militia in Iraq, a reminder that Iran is transferring information via its proxies from one arena to the other, through trainers, he added. This knowledge transfer includes long-range missiles, Segal said, including the past use of Hezbollah trainers in Yemen.
Underpinning this strategy is a fanatical Iranian religious ideology, expressed recently by the commander of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, who stated during a ceremony of the Iranian military, “We have come to prepare the Earth for the reappearance of Imam Mahdi [Islamic Messiah],” according to the Iran Dossier website.
This messianic Shiite Islamist vision has been defined by Iranian officials as the goal of the Islamic Revolution, and used to justify aggression and proxy-building throughout the Middle East.
‘Fight to the Last Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Iraqi’
“I would argue that Iran’s long-term strategy, similar to its approach in Lebanon, Iraq, Gaza and Judea and Samaria, has successfully encircled Israel and kept it occupied on multiple fronts, all without Iran itself paying any direct price. Iran’s rationale is to push conflicts away from its borders and avoid involvement unless necessary—thus far, Iran has not responded to the assassination of Haniyeh on its soil,” said Segal.
“In essence, Iran is willing to fight to the last Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni and Iraqi. If Israel and the West seek long-term stability in the region, they must remove Iran from the equation, primarily by posing a direct threat to Iran and its leader, [Ali] Khamenei, personally,” he added.
Sunday’s missile attack led to debris from the interceptors falling in open areas, with fragments landing at the Paatei Modi’in Railway Station, west of Jerusalem.
Additionally, a fire broke out near Moshav Kfar Daniel, with Israel Fire and Rescue Service crews arriving to contain and extinguish the flames.
The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Israel’s Army Radio, Saree said the missile was a hypersonic ballistic projectile capable of reaching a range of 2,040 kilometers [1,268 mi.] in 11.5 minutes. He described the strike as part of the fifth escalation phase in the Houthi campaign against Israel.
A hypersonic missile is usually defined as a weapon capable of traveling at least Mach 5 or faster (five times the speed of sound)—a speed that can be matched by existing ballistic missiles. The difference is in the ability of hypersonic missiles to maneuver within the atmosphere after they re-enter it from space, according to the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
No Indication they Reached the Testing Stage
Uzi Rubi, founder and first director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization in the Defense Ministry, who played a key role in the development of the first Arrow missile defense program, expressed skepticism about claims that Sunday’s missile was hypersonic.
He noted that while Iran has announced its intentions to develop such weapons, there is no indication that they have reached the testing stage. Rubi, a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, assessed that the missile’s flight time matched that of a conventional ballistic missile.
“There is no doubt that the Iranians provided the Houthis with a version that is a little longer in range than the Qader missiles, which the Houthis have been using to attack Eilat until now,” he said.
In an analysis published at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in June, Rubi noted that the Ghader missile is a “more advanced version of the famous Iranian missile, Shahab 3,” which itself is a North Korean design that is manufactured under license in Iran.
He noted that Iranians have delivered Ghader missiles to “their Houthi allies in Yemen,” who used them to target Eilat six to seven times between October 2023 and June 2024. The Ghader’s accuracy is not very high, he said, and it is more suited for targeting population centers than precise facilities.
The Houthis have fired more than 200 projectiles at Israel since Hamas’s attack on October 7, according to IDF assessments. The Iranian-backed terrorists in Yemen also declared a maritime siege on Israel and parts of the Middle East, and attacked dozens of vessels from around the world, sinking some and disrupting the global economy.
The IDF is investigating its air defense performance. It declined to comment further on the incident.
Army Radio reported that since the start of the war, the Arrow system has intercepted numerous ballistic missiles, with a near-perfect success rate. This includes previous Houthi-launched ballistic missiles and the Iranian missile barrage on April 14.
On July 19, the IAF targeted the Houthi-controlled fuel port of Hudeidah in “Operation Long Arm,” which involved fighter jets flying the same distance needed to hit Iran and striking port infrastructure used for terror activity, after which the Houthis vowed retaliation. The IAF attack came a day after the Houthis fired an Iranian-made Samad 3 suicide unmanned aerial vehicle at Tel Aviv, killing a civilian and injuring several others.
In April, a cruise missile fired from Yemen exploded north of Eilat.
This latest incident underscores the complex challenges Israel faces as it continues to defend itself against a multi-front war, addressing threats from both regional actors and distant adversaries like the Iran-backed Houthis. With the investigation underway, Israeli officials are reassessing the effectiveness of their missile defense systems in the face of evolving missile threats.
Photo Credit: Yossi Aloni/Flash90/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that Iran, the head of the “axis of resistance,” would no longer be able to hide behind its terror proxies: the Houthis in Yemen; Hezbollah in Lebanon; and Hamas in Gaza, but instead pay a price for its actions. Pray that the flow of weapons and information between Iran and these proxies would be halted and communications cut off.
Scripture
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked who oppress me, from my deadly enemies who surround me.
The Media War against Israel
by Melanie Phillips ~ JNS
“BBC” news media
Friday, 13 September 2024 | The apparent bias of the ABC TV moderators in failing to call out the falsehoods reportedly spoken by US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, in the debate with former President Donald Trump this week has attracted much critical comment.
The point isn’t that journalistic bias is irrelevant. On the contrary, over the past few years, the media’s shocking pro-Democrat, anti-Trump partisanship has destroyed its role as the guardian of democracy and established it instead as an army of ruthless activists for a political cause.
Nevertheless, when it comes to assessing rival candidates for the presidency, the media’s narrative has to compete with the mass of information that voters already know about them: their achievements and failures, their strengths and flaws.
The media’s effect on public attitudes towards Israel, however, is very different indeed. That’s because the Western public, by and large, knows virtually nothing about Israel, the Middle East or Jewish history. On Israel, the public mind is therefore a blank page on which can be imprinted whatever picture the media wishes to paint.
And the picture of Israel that’s been painted over the last few decades—and even more intensely since the October 7 Hamas-led pogrom [riot directed against a particular group] against southern Israel communities—is a vicious and wildly distorted caricature.
Last week, a high-ranking delegation of former NATO military officers was in Israel on a fact-finding mission to assess the conduct of the Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Members of the group subsequently expressed admiration for the way the IDF has been conducting the war in an unprecedentedly challenging combat environment.
Gen. Sir John McColl, the British former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, said: “I came away from the trip satisfied that the IDF’s operations and rules of engagement were rigorous compared to the British Army and our Western allies…Israeli soldiers are fighting in conditions of extraordinary complexity and risk.”
This was a sharp if tacit rebuke to Britain’s Starmer administration, which has announced a partial arms embargo against Israel on the grounds that such weapons “might” be used in a “serious violation” of humanitarian law and that there had been “credible” claims about the mistreatment of detainees.
But what was particularly striking about McColl’s remarks was that he had apparently arrived in Israel predisposed to believe the allegations made against it. He said: “Basing my views about the Israel–Hamas war on UK media coverage, I arrived in Israel critical and skeptical of their military operations…There is balance missing in the reporting of events in Gaza.”
The impression given by the British media for the past 11 months of this war has been that Israel is willfully killing huge numbers of Gaza’s women and children, recklessly bombing hospitals and schools full of displaced people, and preventing humanitarian aid from getting to civilians.
Those claims are the reverse of the truth. Yet a very senior military figure seems to have believed them because this media narrative is omnipresent. Even in newspapers whose editorial line is broadly sympathetic to Israel, the reporting is massively distorted by the promulgation of Hamas propaganda as news reports.
The most egregious serial offender is the BBC, whose global reach and reputation for integrity and trustworthiness make it the most influential media outlet in the world. For decades, it has sanitized Palestinian–Arab terrorism and painted Israel falsely as the aggressor in the region. And during the current war in Gaza, its coverage has been overwhelmingly malevolent.
A major study published this week by Trevor Asserson, a British lawyer based in Tel Aviv, laid bare the staggering scale of this betrayal of BBC and journalistic standards.
A dedicated team he set up used AI to crunch four months of war coverage. It identified 1,553 breaches of the BBC’s own guidelines on impartiality and accuracy. It also revealed moderate or strong pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli sentiment in more than 90% of broadcasts on the network’s flagship shows.
Israel was associated with war crimes in BBC reporting 592 times but Hamas (whose entire campaign from October 7 onwards has consisted of war crimes against both Israeli and Gaza civilians) only 98 times.
Worse still—because far more explosive—was the distorted coverage on the BBC Arabic service whose output displayed 90% bias. Most shocking of all, across all its output the network repeatedly used journalists who had shown hostility to Israel, sympathy for Hamas or outright Jew-hatred.
BBC Arabic contributor Mayssaa Abdul Khalek reportedly called for “death to Israel” and defended a journalist who tweeted: “Sir Hitler, rise, there are a few people that need to be burned.”
Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international editor, whose relentless prejudice against Israel necessitated a schedule to the report devoted entirely to him, is accused of excusing Hamas’s terrorist activities and comparing Israel to Putin’s Russia. Chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet is said to have downplayed Hamas’s culpability.
In response to this devastating body of evidence, the BBC simply brushed it aside. Two days after its publication—and after sundry executives had dismissed it in public—the BBC’s Director-General requested a copy. BBC sources accused Asserson of bias, criticized the report’s methodology and said that its claims lacked context.
These weaselly criticisms are merely a way of dodging the fact that the evidence is true.
Take, for example, the claim made by numerous media outlets last October that the IDF had targeted Gaza’s Al Ahli Hospital in an airstrike, killing 500 people. It was soon revealed that the blast had occurred in the hospital grounds killing fewer people—and had been caused by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that was misfired and fell inside Gaza.
Several media outlets subsequently apologized. But at the BBC, Bowen doubled down. He said: “I don’t regret a single thing in my report, because I think I’m measured all the way, I don’t feel bad at all.”
The network’s double standards in item after item, the soft-soaping of Palestinian supporters and the aggressive interruptions of Israel’s defenders, the acceptance of Hamas propaganda and blood libels about Israeli “war crimes” as fact and the equally knee-jerk assumption that the Israelis are lying, all demonstrate the true context of the examples produced by the Asserson team—that the BBC is institutionally hostile to both Israel and the truth.
The BBC is thus a hermetically sealed thought system.
As a result of this mental distortion in liberal circles, the BBC and other media outlets have left the public in the dark about a number of crucial issues arising from the war against Israel.
They have failed to report on Hamas’s role as the military arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, which operates in Britain and America and seeks to conquer the West.
They have failed to report the war in Gaza “in context” as part of an eight-front war by Iran to destroy Israel and America.
They have failed to report the hailstorms of rockets and missiles fired daily at northern Israel by Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. They have failed to investigate the corruption by Hamas of the UN and international courts.
Instead, they have been inciting often murderous hatred of Israel around the world.
The media may have subverted and undermined American democracy. But when it comes to Israel, it has blood on its hands.
Photo Credit: Brett Jordan/Pexels/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that first-hand reports, such as the one by former NATO military officers, would be given a platform in which to relay their findings; findings that are opposite of those reported by the BBC and other global news outlets. Pray for more such groups to be willing to go to Israel with open minds and then report what they have learned.
Scripture
Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth.
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