Since last week’s newsletter there were two major events here in Israel…. we observed the fast of Tisha B’av on Shabbat and Sunday and we had a war that started and ended over the same “long” weekend.
RECAP OF EVENTS
Last Monday, a PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) leader was arrested by the IDF in Jenin in Samaria.
The PIJ is a terrorist group based primarily in Gaza with the aim to destroy Israel and turn it into an Islamic State. The leadership is based in IRAN, who funds the organization and therefore controls their actions.
We usually don’t arrest known terror leaders, because it’s better to leave them in place to gather intelligence about the group’s plans and operations.
Connecting the dots, it seems to me that we knew that the PIJ was planning mortar and sniper attacks on the Gaza border against Israeli civilians and perhaps the civilian train and motorists. The arrest was an attempt to stop the attack and use the leader as negotiation card to get the PIJ to stand down.
Immediately Egypt began acting as an intermediary over the next few days to convince the PIJ to stand down.
When this failed, Israel made a pre-emptive precision drone strike on the Gaza strip killing the PIJ leader who was in charge of carrying out the planned attack (see photo above).
The PIJ retaliated with a barrage of 1,100 missiles over the next 2 days, while the IDF made 170 strikes including against PIJ leaders, rocket launch sites, weapons facilities, and observation posts.
Eventually a ceasefire was reached with most of the PIJ leadership in Gaza eliminated.
THE MIRACLES
No IDF soldiers and no Israeli citizens were killed, or seriously injured!
According to IDF statistics only 36 civilians in Gaza were killed (44 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry who have a track record of including deaths DURING the war as deaths BECAUSE of the war. They will also count teenagers manning rocket launchers as civilians rather than military targets).
Only 11 of the civilian deaths in Gaza were collateral damage from the 170 IDF bombing sorties. (ask the USA or Russia how many civilians die from 170 of their bombing sorties).
And lest you say that the rockets fired at Israel were harmless, 15 Gazan civilians were killed by PIJ rockets that mistakenly landed in Gaza.
The IDF admits that the Iron Dome missed at least 16 rockets ( 4 percent) that were aimed at civilian centers in Israel that they wanted to take down. Yet nobody was severely injured!
WORLD OUTCRY
President Joe Biden defended Israel’s right to defend itself, but led the world in calling for an investigation of civilian deaths in Gaza.
If the world really conducted an honest investigation into the “lack of” civilian deaths on both sides… the world might see that the IDF is the most moral army the world has ever seen, and that God’s invisible Hand is protecting the Nation of Israel and guiding us and the world toward its inevitable destiny.
CONNECTION TO TISHA B’AV
And while the war was going on, what were most of Israel doing? Sitting on the ground, mourning the loss of our Temples and introspecting on how we can repent to bring about the end of our exile.
We read from Lamentations, here are some excerpts. I suggest you read the whole book…
See, God, the distress I am in!
My heart is in anguish,
I know how wrong I was–to disobey.
Outside the sword deals death;
Indoors, the plague.
God is good to those who trust in Him,
To the one who seeks Him;
It is good to wait patiently
Till rescue comes from God.
Take us back, O God, to Yourself,
And let us come back;
Renew our days as of old!
May we all realize that our destiny is not in solely in our own hands and that will pave the way to peace for Israel and the Nations of the World.
Thank you so much for your support!
With blessings,
Shmuel Veffer
Galilee Green
Shalom friend!
Thanks for reading!