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Terrorism

10 Killed, Including Two Children, in Overnight Iranian Missile Strikes

June 15, 2025 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

הֶן עָם כְּלָבִיא יָקוּם וְכַאֲרִי יִתְנַשָּׂא

A Nation rises like a lion; the people rouse themselves like a lion…Numbers 23:24

Israel continues to recover from one of the deadliest escalations in its ongoing conflict with Iran after an unprecedented overnight missile barrage left at least 10 people dead, including two children, and hundreds wounded. 

Rescue operations remain underway, with emergency services still searching for survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings. The heaviest damage occurred in Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, where a residential building suffered a direct hit from an Iranian missile carrying heavy explosives. 

Six people, including two children, were killed instantly. In the immediate aftermath, at least seven people were reported missing. However, emergency services have since located four of the missing individuals alive and receiving treatment in hospitals, reducing the number of missing persons to three.

Rescue teams from the Home Front Command continue complex operations at the Bat Yam site, where portions of the building remain dangerously unstable. Large sections of the structure are partially suspended, threatening the safety of both those trapped and the rescuers. According to authorities, the projectile that struck Bat Yam was not a new model but part of a salvo of known long-range heavy munitions, each containing hundreds of kilograms of explosives.

The building that was hit also housed a command center and shelter on the ground floor, though most of those located on the upper floors managed to escape unharmed. Victims were primarily found in unprotected areas of the structure.

(Pictured Left: Israeli rescue workers at the scene where a ballistic missile fired from Iran caused damage in Bat Yam on June 15, 2025. Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

In a separate strike in northern Israel, an Iranian missile hit a home in Tamra, killing four members of the same family and injuring 20 others. The attacks mark one of the most devastating nights in Israel since the beginning of the war.

Meanwhile, further south, Home Front Command rescue teams managed to pull a Holocaust survivor from the rubble of a damaged building in Rehovot. His son, present at the scene, embraced the rescue teams and thanked them for saving his father’s life. Nearby, the Weizmann Institute also sustained damage, with fires breaking out in some laboratories following another missile strike.

The Iranian barrage, launched in response to Israeli airstrikes on Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, included not only missiles but also reports of drone activity and launches from additional regional actors, including Yemen. Israel continues to face simultaneous threats across multiple fronts.

As the situation remains volatile, Israeli defense forces remain on high alert for further escalation while search and rescue teams continue their dangerous work in hopes of locating the remaining missing individuals.

Please pray for the protection of all of Israel at this volatile time, and as the Holy Spirit leads.

“Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumbers nor sleeps.”

Filed Under: MainStoryWidget, Terrorism, War Tagged With: Iran, Rising Lion, War

An Amazing Turn of Events

September 24, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“…and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd. And on Tyre and Sidon (cities in south Lebanon,) though they are very skillful. Tyre (on the sea coast, 23 kilometers north of the Israeli border) has built herself a stronghold; she has heaped up silver like dust and gold like the dirt of the streets. But the Lord will take away her possessions and destroy her power on the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.” Zechariah 9:2-4

Pagers

Pagers, used by Hezbollah members to coordinate their military operations, exploded in Beirut and southern Lebanon on Tuesday last week in a remote cyber-attack, killing 12 (the figure is not final) people and injuring close to 3000.

Image of a Pager – pic from the BBC

Israel has not officially taken responsibility for the pager Cyber-attack. However, in a process of elimination and due to the ongoing exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah in northern Israel and south Lebanon, and given Israel’s intelligence and cyber capabilities, who else could have done it?

Hezbollah blamed Israel and has vowed to retaliate. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and designated a terror organization by the United States and the UK, emerged during the Lebanese civil war. Tensions with Israel date back to the 1980s with the militant group declaring Western powers and Israel as their enemies.

Hezbollah fought against Israeli forces in 2006 and began launching rockets into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas shortly after the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has responded by striking Hezbollah military facilities.

Hezbollah, a Shia militant Iranian proxy terrorist organization that is based in south Lebanon with offices in the capital Beirut, shunned the use of smartphones that can easily be hacked by Israel and turned to using its outdated pager system in order to shield sensitive information from modern hacking techniques. It was a wrong calculation on their part, as it has proven to be false security.

Instead of coordinating military operations, hundreds of pagers held by Hezbollah members exploded. They were remotely hacked, causing their batteries to overheat and explode, resulting in loss of life and many injuries.

The shocking waves of explosions in strongholds such as the southern suburbs of Beirut stunned Hezbollah members and fighters. Among the victims were the son of a Hezbollah member of Parliament. Hospitals in Beirut were overwhelmed by the influx of casualties, with desperate calls for blood donations.

Experts agree that this attack will change warfare from now on. Cyber-attacks are often below the surface, without visible traces or debris. Most of the attacks are aimed at systems or financial institutions, without hurting people.

Walkie-Talkies

The following day, on Wednesday, walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon in a second wave of attacks targeting Hezbollah electronic devices.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, at least nine people were killed and more than 300 people wounded in the second wave.

Just two days earlier, Israel redefined the goal of the war against Hezbollah by adding to its formal war goals the safe return of its citizens who have been evacuated from their homes in northern Israel and near the border with Lebanon due to Hezbollah’s attacks from southern Lebanon.

Thousands of Israelis have been relocated to hotels all around Israel and their lives disrupted after Hezbollah started attacking on October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas’ genocidal killing spree in Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

However, even with airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon and the assassination of senior Hezbollah commanders, Israel must take stronger action against Hezbollah to stop their near-daily attacks that have continued for almost a year. A full-blown war is unavoidable.

Hezbollah says it would halt the attacks if there would be a cease-fire in Gaza.
However, Israel must continue the war in Gaza in order to eliminate Hamas, which opposes any deal with Israel.

Walkie Talkies – pic from Times of Israel.

The U.S.

The United States has pressed for restraint, warning that a wider war in Lebanon would not achieve its goals.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has met with Israeli P.M Netanyahu and made several visits to Lebanon and Israel to try to ease tensions. Hochstein argues that a full-scale war in Lebanon would spark a broader and drawn-out regional conflict. He told the PM that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution in Gaza and Lebanon.

However, Netanyahu told Hochstein that, with all due respect and appreciation for the U.S. support, there must be a major fundamental in the security situation in northern Israel before residents can return to their homes. Israel must and will “do what is necessary to safeguard its security.”

On Wednesday, a day after the initial cyber-attacks, several blasts were heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members killed by exploding pagers the day before, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene. A photographer in the southern coastal city of Sidon saw a car and a mobile phone shop damaged after devices exploded inside of them.

Welcome to the future. Cyber warfare is now a present-day battlefield, as seen in the attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon. This new battlefield has shifted from land and sea to cyberspace.

Hezbollah’s Response

Hezbollah’s reliance on its invulnerable communication system of pagers has been shattered.

On Saturday night and Sunday morning, Hezbollah sent approximately 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and UAVs, mainly into northern Israel. Most were intercepted by Israel’s multi-layered aerial defense. There were a small number of hits as well as shrapnel falling. “The Israeli Air Force is prepared for both defensive and offensive operations,” the IDF stated.

A teenager was killed when his vehicle crashed as sirens sounded in the early hours of Sunday morning. Three people were wounded in a rocket strike in Kiryat Bialik north of Haifa Sunday morning. Twenty-five cows were killed when a rocket struck a dairy farm in the Jezreel Valley. It was the deepest rocket fired into Israel since the beginning of the war in October.

On Saturday, the IDF carried out a wave of airstrikes against hundreds of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including rocket launchers, with the army saying it had identified plans to launch major rocket attacks against Israel.

“IDF strikes will continue and increase against the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the military said.

PM Netanyahu’s Statement 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented Sunday on the recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“We inflicted a series of blows on Hezbollah. If Hezbollah did not get the message, I promise you – it will get the message now,” Netanyahu said.

He also said. “On October 7th, the Hamas terrorist monsters burst into Israel, murdered our people, raped and beheaded our women, burnt babies alive, and took 255 innocent people hostage, including many Americans.”

“A day later, on October 8th, another Iranian terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, attacked Israel completely unprovoked. They fired missiles and rockets into our cities. They made 60,000 Israelis leave their homes along the Lebanon border, becoming refugees in their own land. In the subsequent months, they haven’t stopped attacking us for a single day” Netanyahu said.

“No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either,” he declared. “We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safely to their homes.”

Click here to read more about Hezbollah. 

Click here to read more about the situation in Lebanon.

As we write this letter

The Israeli Air Force continues to strike Hezbollah terrorist targets. The Israeli Air Force aircraft, under the direction of the intelligence, attacked about 1,300 Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon. Prior to the strikes, Israel warned Lebanese civilians in Arabic to evacuate buildings in which weapons are hidden by Hezbollah. On Monday afternoon, multiple barrages of missiles were launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, activating sirens in several areas in northern Israel. Several were intercepted. A direct hit was reported on a home in a village, no one was injured. Early this morning sirens were sounded in the Jeszreel Valley and in the Nazareth area. Paramedics are searching areas where reports of explosions have been received. They treated a number of people who were injured while running for shelter, as well as some who were suffering from anxiety. Several blazes ignited near Ami’ad, and were extinguished by firefighting teams.

Please pray as the Holy Spirit leads.

Prayer Requests

  1. Praise and thanks to the Lord for the pager/walkie-talkie strategy where the maximum number of civilians were protected and yet many terrorists were effectively disabled. Praise the Lord that according to His Word, He is fighting for Israel.
  2. Pray for the hearts of Israelis to be moved to confession and repentance during these trying times.
  3. Pray the same for the hearts of Gazans, Lebanese and even Hamas and Hezbollah operatives, as we pray for our enemies.
  4. Pray for protection over all of Israel’s borders.

Filed Under: Conflict, From the Newsletter, SideBarStoryWidget-top, Terrorism, War Tagged With: Hezbollah, Terrorism, War

Hezbollah: Not Just Fanatical Terrorists

September 23, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

The Hezbollah creed: “We are the children of the faction of God and we see ourselves as an integral part of the Muslim world, challenged by a most arrogant imperialist assault from the West and the East, with the aim of nullifying the gracious Muslim prophetic charge received by Allah. Allah has given it grace so that it can become the best community that has ever appeared on the earth: it prescribes good and dissuades from evil, and believes in Allah.”

“We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world. It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve. This enemy is the greatest danger to our future generations and the destiny of our lands, particularly as it glorifies the ideas of settlement and expansion, initiated in Palestine, and yearning outward to the extension of the Great Israel, from the Euphrates to the Nile.”

“Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore, our struggle will end only when this entity is OBLITERATED. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease-fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.” Israel is “the ‘imperialist power’ which planted a ‘foreign entity in the region…a cancer that is propagated in the body of the Arab and Islamic umma (typically a single group of common religious beliefs) in order to reduce it to pieces, divide it and control its resources.”

Historical Summary of Hezbollah in Lebanon

The Shia Muslim Iran-proxy Hezbollah (“Party of God”) emerged amid the chaos of the Lebanese civil war as a guerilla terrorist group. It has now grown to become a national political entity, a social welfare unit, and a state-like military organization.

Image from NBC News: Hezbollah

Slowly but surely, and inconspicuously, Hezbollah has increased its political power and status within Lebanon. It has gained growing influence over Lebanon, careful to maintain the rules of the Lebanese political order. The group has, in fact, become so entrenched in the political system that it now demands increased decision-making power within Lebanon. In June 2017, after great efforts on the part of Hezbollah officials, the Lebanese parliament passed a new electoral law that significantly increased Hezbollah’s power in parliament and further secured its representation. However, Hezbollah’s plan is to remain a separate and autonomous armed group with its weapons in the name of “resistance.”

Following the 1982 war between the PLO and Israel in south Lebanon, Hezbollah grew and established its strength and prominence by conducting a series of terror attacks against Israel.

Following the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon on May 24, 2000, Hezbollah became almost a state within a state in south Lebanon.

By 2005, Syria completely withdrew its forces from Lebanon, leaving a power vacuum. Then, in 2006, Hezbollah provoked Israel into a full-scale war in south Lebanon after abducting two Israeli soldiers. After 34 days of fighting, the UN brokered a ceasefire by its Security Council Resolution 1701 which established a no-man zone in south Lebanon that disallowed both Israeli and Hezbollah forces from entering. This was in addition to the UN Security Council Resolution 1559, passed in 2004, which called for the disarmament of all armed militias, as well as their cooperation in allowing the Lebanese State to assert its sovereignty in a free and functioning political system.

However, not only did Hezbollah refuse to give up its weapons but it has systematically increased arms and ammunition throughout south Lebanon since 2006. It has continuously used its weapons to eliminate political rivals as much as possible and impose its will on the Lebanese people and the government. In addition to receiving arms transfers from Iran, Hezbollah is also building infrastructure for independent arms production within Lebanon.

At the end of the 2006 war against Israel, the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 cease-fire agreement called for Hezbollah to immediately stop all attacks and for Israel to cease all offensive military operations. In addition, it set guidelines for both parties, under certain conditions, to refrain from hostilities and maintain stability. Whereas Israel kept the conditions of the agreement, Hezbollah overtly and consistently violated and continues violating the terms agreed upon in the resolution.

In December 2018, IDF forces uncovered an extensive network of underground terror tunnels crossing the Blue Line (a demarcation line dividing Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights, published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.) This was in clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Hezbollah dug these tunnels with the intent of carrying out surprise attacks and kidnappings of Israeli civilians and soldiers. During Operation Northern Shield, the IDF successfully exposed and neutralized these tunnels.

Hezbollah Sabotages the Work of UNIFIL

UNIFIL (UN peacekeeping forces) is supposed to enforce the resolution. However, Hezbollah works in various ways to disrupt the activity of UNIFIL which renders it helpless against Hezbollah militant operations and intelligence gathering or transferring arms. Hezbollah’s influence over the Lebanese government and army is growing steadily.

The means by which Hezbollah increased its control in Lebanon:

  • In the financial system: in order to evade monitoring of money transfers, Hezbollah consistently works to weaken the Lebanese banking system by means of deterrence and influence over top bankers, usually of Shiite origins.
  • Border crossings: In order to evade monitoring of arms transfers, Hezbollah maintains a network of influence over various border crossings, including Hariri Airport, Beirut Seaport, and the customs authority.
  • In local municipalities: Through Hezbollah-affiliated mayors and Mukhtars (heads of villages), Hezbollah consolidates its influence over public services, civilian infrastructure, and its own public outreach.

Increasing Influence Over the Lebanese Armed Forces

Hezbollah holds great power within the decision-making bodies that are responsible for overseeing the security apparatus and state-sanctioned use of force, as well as deciding on matters of war and peace.

It was revealed that Hezbollah had planted an officer in the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) in order to ensure its continued influence over the army.

The organization’s further infiltration into army ranks was revealed in 2017 when Hezbollah tanks were photographed fighting side by side with LAF tanks.

Hezbollah is Not Just a Terrorist Organization in South Lebanon.

A leading American DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) official revealed after years of investigating the Lebanese Hezbollah organization that Hezbollah uses money laundering, the drug trade, and a large corporation of used cars in Africa to raise huge amounts of money for their wicked operations.

Of 68 groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the United States, the DEA has linked 25 of those to drug trafficking or some role in the drug trade.

Out of criminal terrorist organizations such as Lebanese Hezbollah, the Taliban, ISIS, and Colombia’s FARC and ELN, Hezbollah stands out uniquely for its hierarchal leadership, sophisticated intelligence operations, and having political and military wings.

Hezbollah, a major proxy for Iran, receives the majority of its support from Iran. However, to increase its revenue, Hezbollah has increasingly turned to criminal enterprises. They operate in the Shia Crescent (areas under Iranian influence or control that include Iran itself, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, western Afghanistan, and the Houthis in Yemen,) and Russia. Hezbollah taps into global money launderers, arms traffickers, and drug traffickers on six continents.

The type of criminal activity conducted by Hezbollah’s networks varies from continent to continent, but in North America, the main operations are money laundering, the used car trade, and drug trafficking — “trafficking coke here whether as transshipment broker or supplier.” 

When the U.S. Treasury Department blocked American financial institutions from conducting business with the Lebanese Canadian Bank in 2011, for example, officials alleged that revenue from European and Latin American drug sales was wired by the bank to used car dealers in the United States who shipped huge amounts of cars to West Africa where they were sold; the proceeds went back to Hezbollah.

In South America, Hezbollah has benefited from Islamic extremism and its connections to Colombian cartels and a corrupt Venezuelan government whose regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Madura have facilitated air shipments of cocaine to Syria and helped members of Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps get fraudulent passports. In Mexico, money laundering links were discovered between Hezbollah and Los Zetas.

Although Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and other high-ranking Hezbollah figures deny any criminal allegations and say that drug trafficking would violate Islamic law, investigations show that they operate just as a traditional organized crime organization, like the Mafia or any other drug cartel.

“Nasrallah is a murdering terrorist” — just like Escobar who built orphanages and murdered people and has no problem lying, said one of the DEA agents, “The DEA has discovered cases where Hezbollah criminal activity benefits Iran, as well as the U.S.”

In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting Hezbollah’s drug trafficking while it was funneling cocaine into the United States.

The DEA

The DEA was established by President Richard Nixon in 1973 to combine various anti-drug programs under the US Department of Justice. During the Bush administration, thanks to supportive Republicans in Congress, it had become the beneficiary of a new federal law that empowered its agents around the globe to operate virtually anywhere without permission required from other U.S. agencies. All they had to do was connect drug suspects to terrorism, and then arrest them and bring them to the United States in an effort to penetrate the highest levels of the world’s most significant and notorious criminal organizations.

In the investigations, there was enough proof that the terrorist Muslim organization of Hezbollah was no longer just a small Palestinian military and political organization in south Lebanon, focused on fighting Israel, but had grown and spread into an international crime syndicate that, according to some investigators, was collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapon trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities for the purchase of weapons. As a result, in 2008, The DEA launched a campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, against the organization network.

Over the next eight years, top-secret DEA agents, with the help of 30 U.S. and foreign security agencies, used wiretaps, undercover operations, and informants to map Hezbollah’s illicit networks.

They followed cocaine shipments – some from Latin America to West Africa and on to Europe and the Middle East, and others through Venezuela and Mexico to the United States. They tracked the flow of cash as it was laundered by, among other tactics, buying American used cars and shipping them to Africa where Hezbollah uses the funds to purchase weapons. And with the help of some key cooperating witnesses, the agents traced the conspiracy, they believed, to the innermost circle of Hezbollah and its state sponsors in Iran. While the pursuit may be shadowed in secrecy, from Latin American luxury hotels to car parks in Africa to the banks and battlefields of the Middle East, its impact is not a secret: the discovery of multi-ton loads of cocaine entering the United States, and hundreds of millions of dollars going to a U.S. designated terrorist organization.

But as Project Cassandra reached higher into the hierarchy of the Hezbollah conspiracy, the Obama administration officials threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way, according to interviews with dozens of participant agents, who in many cases, spoke for the first time about events shrouded in secrecy and a review of government documents and court records. When Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for certain significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests, and financial sanctions, officials at the Justice and Treasury departments delayed, hindered, or rejected their requests.

The Justice Department declined requests by Project Cassandra and other authorities to file criminal charges against major players such as Hezbollah’s high-profile envoy to Iran; a Lebanese bank that allegedly laundered billions in alleged drug profits and a central player in a U.S-based cell of the Iranian paramilitary Quds force.

The State Department rejected requests to lure high-value targets to countries where they could be arrested. This was the extent to which competing agendas among government agencies and shifting priorities at the highest levels have set back years of progress.

Normalizing Hezbollah in Lebanon Government

Obama had entered office in 2009 promising to improve relations with Iran as part of a broader conciliation with the Muslim world. On his campaign trail, Obama had repeatedly criticized Bush’s failing policy of pressuring Iran to stop its illicit nuclear program and said that he would reach out to Tehran in diplomacy. Obama saw an opportunity to set a new course for relations between the two countries through direct dialogue. To appease Iran, the plan was not to go against Hezbollah but the assimilation of Hezbollah into Lebanon’s political system and to find ways to build up “moderate elements” within Hezbollah.

According to reports from DEA agents, during the Obama administration, the DEA project took a back seat to a deal with Iran. To make the nuclear deal with Iran, Project Cassandra was halted just as it was approaching the arrest of criminals in the upper echelon of Hezbollah and while Hezbollah was continuing its illicit activities around the world, including funneling cocaine into the United States. This was confirmed by a testimony of a former Obama administration Treasury official. According to Project Cassandra members and others, “investigations were tampered down for fear of rocking the boat with Iran and jeopardizing the nuclear deal.” In addition, they said Obama was reluctant to give the green light to aggressively act against top Hezbollah operatives due to his envisioning a new role for Hezbollah in the Middle East, along with his desire for a negotiated settlement for Iran’s nuclear program.

The administration also rejected repeated efforts by Project Cassandra members to charge Hezbollah’s military wing as an ongoing criminal enterprise under a federal Mafia-style racketeering statute. Administration officials declined to designate Hezbollah as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and blocked other strategic initiatives that would have given the task force additional legal tools, money, and manpower to fight it.

Nevertheless, Obama’s vision to build up “moderate elements” within Hezbollah has failed. It remains a dangerous militant terror organization. Hezbollah continues to evolve from just another terrorist organization in south Lebanon into a strong militia and a political party with representatives in the Lebanese Parliament and Cabinet. Hezbollah is now an international multi-million-dollar mafia-like organization.

Image: Photo by René Ranisch on Unsplash

Filed Under: Conflict, MainStoryWidget-left, Terrorism, War Tagged With: Lebanon

The Threat of Ramadan

March 14, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

With war in Gaza raging, tensions in East Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, (aka the West Bank territories) are escalating with the start of the holy month of Ramadan, particularly on the Temple Mount. Located in east Jerusalem’s Old City, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount is considered the third holiest site in Islam, while to the Jews it is the most holy site as the location of the two ancient Holy Temples.

Even after Israel won the Six Day War and conquered and annexed east Jerusalem in 1967, including the Temple Mount, the Muslim religious facilities of the Temple remained under the administration of the Waqf, dedicated to Muslim religious purposes. All Islamic religious activity has remained under Jordanian control since the cease-fire of the 1948 war of Israel’s independence.

In Islam, the holiday of the Ramadan fast (and feasting every night) observed by millions of Muslims around the world is supposed to be a time of prayer, reflection, and community. The Muslims believe that during this holy month, their holy book, the Quran, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

However, since Israel gained control of the grounds of the Temple Mount, each year, the time of Ramadan has become particularly inflammatory. Every year violence erupts on Ramadan as Palestinians use the compound and even the mosque itself to riot and throw rocks in provocation of Israeli forces who are there to keep law and order. When Palestinian rioters are injured and many are arrested as a result of Israeli police dispersing rioters, even more violence ensues.

Image above: Cartoon by Alaa’ al-Laqta. Right: Incitement to violence.  The Arabic reads, “The meal of young Jerusalemites before the Ramadan fast” (Alaa’ al-Laqta’s Facebook page, April 23, 2021).

In 2022 and 2023 during Ramadan, inspired by Hamas and carrying Hamas flags, Palestinian terrorists shot, stabbed, and threw bombs on Israelis praying at the Western Wall below. PA (Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria) President Mahmoud Abbas negated any Jewish connection to Jerusalem by declaring, “We alone have the religious, historical, and legal right to Al-Buraq Wall (the Western Wall).”

Ramadan is not like any holiday in other religions. Rather than being a month of peace and harmony, it is a month of war and violence. From Islam’s beginnings, Ramadan was a time to wage war.

History of Ramadan

In 624 CE, during Ramadan, the Prophet Muhammad waged his first jihad (holy war). In 632, during the month of Ramadan, Muhammad attacked and conquered the city of Mecca with its Kaaba stone, which is Islam’s most holy site today.

Throughout the centuries, Muslims have waged wars and conquests during Ramadan. A few more examples are:

  • The conquest of Rhodes in 653 CE
  • The invasion of Spain in 710 CE and 
  • Battles against the Crusaders over Jerusalem led by Salah Al-Din in 1187 CE.
  • In 1260, Muslims defeated the Mongols in Palestine (now Israel,)
  • In the 20th century, between 1962 to 1970, during the Yemeni Civil War, Muslims fought each other through nine Ramadans.
  • In 1973 on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria, on Ramadan launched a surprise attack on Israel. The Israelis call it the Yom Kippur War whereas they call it the Ramadan War.  
  • In 1981, Iran rejected an offer for a Ramadan cease-fire from Iraq, and a year later attacked Iraq in what they called, “Operation Ramadan.”
  • Likewise, in 1987, Iran again rejected an offer of a Ramadan cease-fire from Iraq.
  • In Israel, Palestinians rioted from the years 1987 to 1993 during six Ramadans. From the 1990s and well into the beginning of the 21st century, during Ramadan, Muslims continued to war in other locations than just in Israel. For example, widespread fighting occurred in Kashmir when Muslims rejected a Ramadan cease-fire offered by India as a step for peace.

Ramadan Today

Now, at the start of Ramadan, as the war in Gaza continues, Hamas is calling for violence against Jews.

In a speech prior to the start of Ramadan which began on March 10th, Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, incited Palestinians in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to storm the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.

Haniyeh also called for the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” members including Hezbollah, the Houthis, and various Iraqi Shia militias to escalate their attacks against Israel. A spokesman for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another Iranian-backed Palestinian terror group, called for a “month of terror” against Israel during Ramadan.

It is obvious that Hamas, under the guise of this holiday, intends to inflame religious tensions and increase attacks against Israelis, so the month of Ramadan begins the second phase of their plan that began on October 7th. Unfortunately, also the PA has increased incitement against Israel during this fragile period.

Unlike Hamas, Israel intends to do everything possible to decrease tension and prevent violence during this volatile time. Israel’s policy is to maintain religious freedom and access to holy places for all religions, including access for Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount.

Filed Under: AntiSemitism, History, Terrorism Tagged With: Anti-Semitism, Hamas, Ramadan, Temple Mount, Terrorism, War

Netanyahu’s Impossible Choice

February 13, 2024 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever…” Exodus 14:13


“The LORD is a man of war…“Your right hand, O LORD, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed the enemy in pieces.” Exodus 15:1, 6 (NKJ)

Picture from facebook: The title on this photo translated is: “With God’s help, there is going to be a great miracle”. The most repeated photographs of those who were kidnapped are of the red-headed boys of the Bibas family. Yarden and Shiri Bibas and their 9-month-old and 4-year-old sons Kfir and Ariel were kidnapped from their home on October 7th. They are still held hostage.

Choices and Decisions in Wartime

     Educated at a top private school in England, the Britisher Alan Turing was considered a mathematics genius from an early age. He entered the University of Cambridge to study mathematics in 1931. He was already working part-time for the British Government’s Code and Cypher School before World War II with Germany broke out in September 1939. Turing then accepted a full-time, top-secret post at the British Army War-time Headquarters in Buckinghamshire, along with a team of other mathematical geniuses to head the development of a code-breaking machine that would decipher the military codes of the Enigma, the German devise used to encode strategic messages during the war.

     After many unsuccessful tries, and very close to the deadline given by his employer, Turing’s machine was finally able to crack the German Enigma code just as the Germans planned to blow up a British war vessel with 500 hundred men on board. The team members were excited at the possibility of saving the men’s lives and hurried to make a phone call to inform headquarters of the good news. However, Turing grabbed the phone and said: “No, we are not going to disclose this breakthrough that would let the Germans know that we have decoded the Enigma. They will then destroy it and build another one. We must guard this secret even from our military.” All agreed except one whose brother was on board the vessel. He begged Turing to save his brother’s life. It was a difficult decision for Turing but with much determination, he declared that winning the war and saving millions of lives took precedence over saving a few hundred lives.

     Subsequently, for the rest of the war, Turing’s machine supplied the Allies with large quantities of military intelligence. By early 1942, it had decoded monthly about 39,000 intercepted messages, a figure that rose to over 84,000 per month—two messages every minute, day and night. In 1942, Turing also devised the first systematic method for decoding messages encrypted by the sophisticated German cipher machine that the British called “Tunny.”

     In the end, thanks to Turing, the war was shortened by two years, and about 14 million lives were saved.

A Similar Dilemma

     In today’s war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli PM Netanyahu and the war cabinet now face a similar dilemma.

     On October 7, 2023, on the last day of the holiday of Succoth, Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel via land, air, and sea, committing atrocities upon residents in the entire region. During the massacre, the terrorists murdered in cold blood more than 1,200 innocent civilians, including infants, young and old, and youth who were partying at a peace music festival. Additionally, Hamas abducted 240 Israelis into the Gaza Strip.

     It was a declaration of war that Israel has since been fighting. Israel has three main goals:

  1. destroying Hamas as a military and ruling force in Gaza;
  2. the return of the hostages; and
  3. ensuring Hamas will no longer threaten Israel’s security.

     Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed again a few days ago to continue the offensive war in the Gaza Strip until achieving a “crushing victory” against Hamas.

     At the end of November 2023, a week’s ceasefire was declared. Hamas released 105 hostages and Israel freed 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. However, after Hamas violated the pause, the Israeli army resumed fighting. To date, there remain some 136 hostages, some alive and some murdered (the IDF has so far confirmed 31 hostages who have been killed, including the bodies of 2 soldiers kept by Hamas since 2014.)

     Presently, Netanyahu refuses to accept another so-called “deal” with Hamas for the release of the remaining abducted Israelis, claiming that Hamas’ new conditions are unacceptable.

     In protest, the families of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip are protesting and have recently shut down a vital road in Tel Aviv to demand an immediate deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones. On the other hand, thousands of Israeli right-wing demonstrators protested in Jerusalem and demanded the government not stop the fighting in Gaza, even for the negotiations with Hamas, which would result in Israel losing the war.

     PM Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting public pressure, including from some politicians affiliated with his War Cabinet. However, Netanyahu is standing firm. He said at a news conference a few days ago: “Giving in to the outrageous demands of Hamas will not only fail to bring about the release of the hostages but will invite an additional massacre and disaster for Israel. The day after the war is the day after Hamas; not part of Hamas, not half of Hamas,” meaning ALL of Hamas. According to Netanyahu, the Israeli army is on the way to a complete victory that will take not years but months. “We will continue until the end,” he said, “There is no other solution besides complete victory.”

     As Turing’s decision was in WWII to win the war and save millions at the cost of several hundred lives, so is Netanyahu’s decision to win the war and save the entire Jewish nation, unfortunately, at the cost, if necessary, of less than a hundred precious lives.

Our Prayer Focus

     In this vein, we at the prayer tent are now meeting four times a week in prayer, supplication with thanksgiving, believing for a miracle, the release of the hostages, and complete victory over Israel’s vicious enemy. As with God’s miracle when He saved the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, when He parted the Red Sea and the Israelites crossed over on dry land and He then drowned the Egyptian army that pursued them. As the Lord said then to Israel: “the Egyptians you see today, you will see no more.” The enemy of Israel was completely destroyed, while Israel was saved.

     We pray for a similar miracle today, for God to bring the Israeli hostages home safely, while Hamas is completely destroyed by the collapse of their own tunnels. Hamas in Gaza we will see no more. Amen!
 


News Flash

Monday we got the news that 2 hostages were rescued by the IDF in a daring mission in the southern Gaza Strip. Today is the 129th day of the war – and of their captivity. This is much-welcomed news and so encouraging. Please pray for more of the same.
 


Please Join Us in Prayer

  • Please pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu – strength, health, divine guidance.
  • Pray that the objectives of this war are accomplished.
  • Pray that the objectives of the Lord concerning the salvation of souls will be accomplished.
  • Pray for our soldiers, our hostages, and the many wounded, widowed, and orphaned by the war.
  • Pray for the evacuees who are unable to return to their homes.
  • Pray for those of us called to pray, that we will not grow weary but continue in strength to intercede as we see things unfolding.

Filed Under: Conflict, From the Newsletter, MainStoryWidget-left, Terrorism Tagged With: Anti-Semitism, Hamas, Terrorism, War

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