DOG DAYS

Israel is sweltering under the hottest part of our long, dry summer. With temperatures reaching above 30 degrees every day, it is too hot to do much outdoors and I am finding myself going a bit stir-crazy. I remember a rather corny TV weatherman in the 1980s who, around this time of the year, used to start a countdown until he had some weather to report. For 6-8 months a year, it is always hot and sunny in Israel and not a drop of rain will fall. Reporting the weather must be one of the most boring jobs in the Land, so it is no wonder that of late they have resorted to on reporting the height of the waves in the sea and the jellyfish count.

I am not attracted to the beach in summer. Dodging stinging jellyfish floating in a soup of 30 degree water, surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of screaming people, does not tempt me at all. I much prefer a lovely cool swim followed by a laze on a grassy lawn under a shady umbrella at my local pool. I’ve been doing that a lot lately!

Image result for pics tel aviv beach — A Tel Aviv Beach in summer
https://igoogledisrael.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/justbeachy2small.jpg

The weather is not the only thing getting hot around here. Once more we are seeing an escalation of tension both within Israel and on the southern border.

Gaza

After a hiatus of almost a month residents of our southern communities were again having to run to their bomb shelters this last Friday night (17/08) as ‘code red’ sirens blared. A rocket was shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome system and no injuries or damage were reported. Israel responded by attacking two underground military targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Last night (18/08) many southern communities went on high alert as more rocket fire was expected, and the cities of Beersheva, Ashdod, Ofakim, Gan Yavne and Yavne opened their municipal bomb shelters. During the night the sirens sounded again as at least three rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israeli towns in the south. Two of the rockets were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome system and some of the shrapnel fell in the yard of a home in Sderot causing damage. One woman was treated in hospital for shock and several others sustained minor injuries as they ran for shelter (1).

Recently there have also been several infiltration attempts across the Gaza border. On the night of Friday the 9th, four heavily armed Gazan Palestinians crossed the border fence into Israel with the intent of killing many Israeli civilians. They were spotted and engaged by the IDF. One of the Gazans threw a grenade at the IDF soldiers who returned fire killing all four infiltrators.

This photo released by the IDF shows a collection on weapons, including rifles, RPG launchers, grenades, bolt cutters, and knives carried by four Gazans who tried to cross the border into Israel, August 10, 2019. (Israel Defense Forces)

Last night also another group of Gazan terrorists attempted to infiltrate Israel but they were discovered and an attack helicopter and tank fired at them killing all. It is unclear how many they were, reports vary between 3-5. Palestinian media also reported that the men were members of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, Saraya al-Quds, but this has not been confirmed (2).

TERROR

In recent days there has also been an upsurge in terror attacks in and around Jerusalem. Shin Bet, one of Israel’s security services, claims that “the (Hamas) operatives in the West Bank were instructed to form cells in order to carry out kidnappings, shootings and stabbings, purchase weaponry, and find and recruit additional operatives for terrorist activities” (3). Earlier this month Shin Bet captured one such cell which had prepared 3kg of explosives for a planned attack in Jerusalem. These explosive devices had been stored in a school next to the bomb maker’s house! The Shin Bet also claims to have thwarted several other similar cells in recent months.

Sadly the Shin Bet, as effective as it is, cannot stop all terror attacks, especially the so-called ‘lone wolf’ attacks. On Friday (16/08) two teenagers standing at a bus stop were intentionally rammed by a passing vehicle, injuring one seriously and the other moderately. The vehicle overturned and as the driver emerged an off-duty police officer on the scene killed him. The officer also managed to capture the attack on his dashboard webcam. You can see the video on https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-seriously-injured-in-suspected-car-ramming-attack-next-to-elazar-settlement/ .

Earlier on the same day two teenage Palestinian boys attacked with knives soldiers guarding the Old City of Jerusalem. In the attack a 40-year-old policeman sustained multiple stab wounds to his upper body and a bystander was lightly injured. One of the attacking boys was shot dead and the other shot and seriously wounded. He was taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment. This attack was also captured on video, which you can see in the video on this site: https://www.timesofisrael.com/cop-injured-in-stabbing-attack-in-jerusalems-old-city-2-assailants-shot/ .

The tragedy of this attack is that the terrorists were just boys aged 14 years old. One must ask what kind of society so fills their children with hatred and violence that they would carry out such an act? A society that brainwashes them with lies and hatred for Jews from the cradle, one in which toddlers hero-worship terrorists, and who long to become shahids (martyrs) for the Palestinian cause.

Ex-Muslim, Jasmine Mohammed, founder of Free Hearts Free Minds organization, which provides psychological support for ex-Muslims, and author of “Confessions of an Ex-Muslim“, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post explained:

” that the general experience for Muslims is that of “pervasive hate for Jewish people – and this is learned from a young age. In Muslim communities, the word for Jew is not only used as a pejorative, it is used as a curse word. It is a hate that permeates so much so that it is invisible: It is just accepted.

“Never once, as a Muslim, did I stop to think about why we were to hate Jewish people so much. It’s like asking a child why they hate monsters. It is just a learned behavior that rarely gets questioned, and the hate of Israel is an extension of that. The hope to annihilate all Jewish people is based on the religion that teaches there will only be peace on earth once all Jews are killed by righteous Muslims (4).

On the 8th of August, just days before his 19th birthday, yeshiva student Dvir (Yehuda) Sorek was brutally stabbed to death just meters away from the entrance to Migdal Oz in the Gush Etzion settlement block, where his yeshiva was located. Dvir was enrolled in a program which combines military service with religious studies and was on his way home having gone into Jerusalem to buy a gift for his teachers. He was not wearing uniform and was unarmed.

Ironically Dvir was part of a group of young Palestinians and Jews who for two years have been meeting together in order to build understanding and a better future for both communities. The gift he had bought for his teachers was a book by David Grossman who champions the cause of the two-state solution”. He died clutching this book. Some of Dvir’s Palestinian friends wrote this about his murder, “

“Harsh reality hits us again. A few days ago, our yeshiva friend from Migdal Oz was abducted and killed, When I got the news that morning, I was shocked. I told my Palestinian friends what happened and they didn’t believe me.

Dvir Sorek, 19, who was stabbed to death in the West Bank….Dvir Sorek was one of the participants in this discussion group. In no way we can imagine that someone we met yesterday will be the victim of tomorrow.

We send our condolences to his family and our friends in the yeshiva.

And for us as a group, we condemn this kind of vicious violence that target us all for our residence place, religion, identity, citizenship. It is so sad we reached the point where we are talking about the right to not be killed.

We will stay in this way until we achieve the goal of freedom and the right to life. We are building a bridge between peoples on this land and we will continue to work on it (5).

In spite of all, there are those, albeit a minority, who are trying to make a better future.

The Shin Bet security forces have arrested two suspects for the murder, Nasir Asafra, 24, and Qassem Asafra, 30, cousins from the village of Beit Kahil in the southern West Bank (5).

Sister of Dvir Sorek: âI donât think his killers deserve to liveâ — Dvir Sorek
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/terrorism-news/soldier-found-stabbed-to-death-in-gush-etzion/2019/08/08/

Hamas has denied direct involvement in this spate of ‘lone wolf’ terror attacks claiming they were carried out by ‘rebellious youth’. In statements to the Palestinian news agency Safa, officials from Hamas and Islamic Jihad said “The rebellion of the youth is a harbinger of an explosion,…We won’t tolerate the crimes of the occupation against our nation any longer” (10). Hours earlier an unnamed senior Hamas official made similar remarks to the London-based Palestinian newspaper al-Araby al-Jadeed, justified the attacks saying, “Palestinians are disappointed by the difficult conditions caused by the Israeli occupation… Dozens of promises to improve conditions have not been kept. This frustration has become the legacy of 2 million Palestinians” (10). Of course Hamas and Islamic Jihad will blame Israel instead of accepting that they have brainwashed a generation of Gazan youth into a brutal culture of mindless hatred and murderous intent while they have diverted billions of aid dollars into acquiring munitions, building tunnels and other military infrastructure rather than using it to give the Gazan people a better quality of life.

Both Israel and Hamas however are concerned that the current wave of terror attacks, and the cross-border infiltrations will catapult us into a full-scale war. Hamas has warned of an ‘impending explosion’, and there is growing discontent in Israel with our lack of decisive action.

North

Hamas in the south has carried out thousands of arson attacks in Israel over the last two years and last Friday Hezbollah in the north began to emulate these attacks. Hezbollah lit fires along the Lebanese border, which fanned by strong winds, quickly spread into Israeli territory threatening the town of Margaliot and an IDF post. Vehicles belonging to the UN ‘Peace Forces’ in Lebanon reportedly passed through the area at the time but did nothing to stop the arsonists or put out the fires (6).

Iran

The greatest threat to Israel remains Iran. Last week Israeli naval forces participated in a joint training exercise with US forces in which they “exercised regaining control of a hijacked ship and extracting forces from enemy territory” (7). Although the IDF claims this was just a routine training exercise it comes “amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf and efforts by the Trump administration to set up a naval security mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz”. Six oil tankers have been seized or attacked by Iran in the Persian Gulf in recent weeks. The US is trying to set up a coalition force to protect shipping in the Gulf.

Earlier this month (05/08) Iran threatened European powers that it would further reduce compliance with its 2015 nuclear deal in about a month’s time if they were still failing to protect it from crippling U.S. sanctions, reimposed after Washington exited the deal (8). Iran threatened “to block all energy exports out of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil traffic passes, if it is unable to sell oil as promised by the 2015 deal in exchange for curbing its uranium enrichment programme” (8). It has already violated the deal by enriching uranium and stockpiling heavy water beyond the levels allowed. It denies that it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb but there is no other legitimate use for uranium enriched to these levels.

Iran also appears to be preparing a third attempt to launch its Nahid-1 telecommunications satellite into space (9).

Elections

In the midst of all these threats to our existence, Israelis will go to the polls on September 17 in a second attempt to elect a government. This will perhaps be the most important election the nation of Israel ever held. Given the childish taunts and accusations being bandied about by every candidate, and the corruption and dishonesty that infiltrates the entire political world, it is hard to know how to vote. It is also hard to know how to pray. However I would recommend the prayer of Derek Prince outlined in his book, “Secrets of a Prayer Warrior“,

“Lord give us leaders such that it will be to Your glory to give us victory through them.”

Furthermore, it is written,

“THE EFFECTIVE FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILS MUCH”

James 5:16

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