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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. Please contact us at intl.office@bridgesforpeace.com if you would like to receive this Prayer Update by e-mail.
Iranian Attack on Israel a ‘Matter of When, Not If’
by JNS
An Iran attack on Israel is reportedly a matter of when, not if (illustrative).
Thursday, 11 April 2024 | Washington and its allies believe a major attack on Israel by Iran is imminent and may be launched in the coming days, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing officials familiar with the intelligence.
According to US and Israeli sources, Iran’s retaliatory attack has become a matter of when, not if, the officials said, warning that the expected assault “may not necessarily come from Israel’s north.”
The Islamic Republic’s response to the killing of an Iranian general in Syria on April 1, which Tehran has blamed on the Jewish state, could involve high-precision missiles being launched at Israel, according to the report.
Israel’s allies have reportedly been told that government and military structures may be targeted but civilian facilities are not expected to be. US officials were said to be helping Israel prepare for the attack.
Jerusalem also informed allies it is waiting for Iran to attack before launching a ground offensive to clear out the remaining 3,000 Hamas terrorists in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, Bloomberg reported.
Israel has not officially taken responsibility for the attack in Damascus which killed Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zahedi, but four officials told the New York Times last week that Jerusalem ordered the strike.
Senior sources in the Iranian regime told Reuters on April 4 that Tehran would provide a “serious response” to the killing of Zahedi, suggesting however that it would seek to avoid a direct clash with Israel and the US.
An Iranian retaliatory attack could include “a swarm of Shahed loitering drones and cruise missiles,” according to US intelligence, CBS News reported on April 5.
The Israel Defense Forces [IDF] has been placed on high alert, resulting in combat soldiers’ weekend leaves being canceled and the military calling up additional reserve soldiers to the IDF Aerial Defense Array.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned on Tuesday that Israel will respond in kind should Iran launch a direct attack against it.
“If Iran attacks from its territory—Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” tweeted Katz. The minister tagged Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the X post.
A Western security official told the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Elaph that Israel has conducted secret air force training in recent days, involving long-distance flights and rehearsals of strikes on sensitive sites in Iran that may be tied to that country’s nuclear project.
Photo Credit: saeediex/Shutterstock/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Cry out to the Lord for His protection from an Iranian attack in any form and from any direction. Pray that there would be no civilian casualties should such an attack occur, and for Israel’s readiness. And pray that any response Israel is forced to make will result in swift and decisive victory, crippling Iran’s ability to continue inciting war and funding terrorism. But also ask the Lord for miracles as He performed in Israel’s ancient history, that Iran’s weapons will fail and Israel’s enemies will turn on each other.
Scripture
The LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were struck down. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, completely destroying them; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
Israel, World Mark Six Months Since October 7 Hamas Massacre
by Joshua Spurlock ~ Middle East Update
Israel commemorates the six-month mark since the horrific Hamas attack on October 7 (illustrative).
Monday, 8 April 2024 | Six months ago, the world for Israelis, Jews and many more changed forever. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, murdered almost 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 250 others. This weekend, the memorial of that brutal day was marked—to the minute. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, “Tomorrow at 6:29 a.m., we mark six months since the cruel terror attack and the horrific massacre. Half a year since this crime against our sisters and brothers, against our state, this crime against humanity. Six months of a bloody and difficult war.”
Herzog listed off a litany of horrors and challenges that began on October 7: the ongoing hostage crisis, which plagues loved ones who long for the hostages’ return; the many Israeli civilians who still cannot return to their homes in the north and south of Israel due to the conflict; and the ongoing fight being waged by the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] “in every arena, on every front, with all their might—to bring back the hostages and to fight terrorism.”
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu evoked Holocaust language when describing the “murderous attack.” He further highlighted the array of Iranian-backed enemies that have attacked Israel in the last half-year: Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi group in Yemen, militias in Iraq and Syria and more.
Netanyahu also recapped the achievements of Israel’s defensive war launched in response to the Hamas assault. These include eliminating 19 of Hamas’s 24 battalions and killing, wounding or capturing a “large number of Hamas terrorists,” including senior commanders. Israel has also “destroyed factories for producing rockets, command centers, stores of weapons and ammunition, and underground installations.”
Nonetheless, the Israeli leader noted that “the price that we have had to pay has been painful and high,” as more than 250 Israeli soldiers have died since the Gaza campaign began.
Others outside of Israel also marked the six-month mark. In a post to X (formerly Twitter), the German Foreign Ministry wrote on Sunday: “Six months ago today was a dark day. Hamas terrorists attacked Israel. They abused, raped and murdered innocent children, women & men with unimaginably brutal violence—out of hatred against Jews & out of hatred against all people living in #Israel.”
The series of posts highlighted the hostages that remain in Hamas captivity and ended by stating: “Hamas has brought war and endless suffering upon Israelis and Palestinians with its terror. It must end this suffering, release the hostages immediately and lay down its weapons.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz thanked German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock for relaying the comments in German on her X page. In a post to X, Katz expressed appreciation for Baerbock’s “unconditional support of Israel’s just cause,” adding, “This is how friends act.”
Not all of Israel’s friends were so unconditional in their support. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the “terrorist outrage” of October 7 “the most appalling attack in Israel’s history, the worst loss of Jewish life since the Second World War.”
However, while Sunak said they “continue to stand by Israel’s right to defeat the threat from Hamas,” he also pivoted to say “the whole of the UK is shocked by the bloodshed” in the Gaza war, before saying the “terrible conflict must end.” He called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire “leading to a long-term sustainable cease-fire.”
Meanwhile, the highest levels of the administration of US President Joe Biden were conspicuously silent on the half-anniversary of the Hamas terror massacre. No statements were published or posted to the office websites or the X feeds for President Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken or their offices. The limited public comments come as President Biden faces political pressure in the US from supporters who are ardently opposed to Israel’s war against Hamas.
The horrors of October 7 remain staggering as Israel fights its longest war in decades. Elad Strohmayer, director of the Congressional Affairs Department in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), wrote in a post to X: “It’s 6:29 a.m. in Israel. Today we commemorate 6 months to the deadliest terror attack on Israel in history. 6 months to the deadliest slaughter of Jewish people since the Holocaust. 6 months since Hamas declared war on Israel.
“6 months later I’m still with pain, I’m still with anger. 6 months later I’m still waiting to the release of all hostages and I’m enraged the world is forgetting that Hamas started it all. There’s no moral equivalence. 6 months to the October 7 attack. I remember. We should all remember.”
In the midst of the pain, anger and somber remembrance, Herzog ended his comments with the hopeful Hebrew phrase that the “people of Israel live!”
“Half a year has passed, and it is difficult to know what challenges still lie ahead of us. But despite the long and difficult journey, I look at you, citizens of Israel, and I know—we will rise again, we will heal and build, we will plant, we will reap with joy what we sowed in tears, and we will prove to the whole world: Am Yisrael Chai!”
Source: (Excerpt of an article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on April 7, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today.)
Photo Credit: Lizzy Shaanan Pikiwiki Israel /Wikimedia.org
Photo License: Wikimedia
Prayer Focus
Continue to pray for those hostages that remain in Gaza. Beseech the Lord for His tangible presence to be with each of them constantly, for their perseverance, their courage and their safety in the midst of evil. And pray for the entire nation as war rages on. Pray for unity and determination as threats mount and Israel’s enemies are empowered by international pressure on the Jewish state.
Scripture
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Report: Indonesia to Normalize Relations with Israel
by JNS
A skyline view of Jakarta, Indonesia
Thursday, 11 April 2024 | Israel is set to normalize relations with Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, Ynet reported on Thursday.
The move comes after three months of secret talks between Jerusalem and Jakarta. In exchange for establishing diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, Jerusalem will reportedly lift its opposition to Indonesia becoming the 39th member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann sent a letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz around two weeks ago, with Jakarta approving the wording.
“I am happy to announce that the Council has officially agreed to the early, clear and explicit condition that Indonesia maintain diplomatic relations with all members of the organization before any decision to accept [it in] the OECD,” the letter states.
“Moreover, any future decision to accept Indonesia as a member of the organization will require unanimous agreement among all the members, including Israel. I am convinced that this provides you with security on this important point,” the letter continues.
In a reply letter that Katz sent on Wednesday night and which was seen by Ynet, the minister wrote that “I share your expectation that this process will be a change for Indonesia, as I expect a positive change in its policy towards Israel, and in particular a renunciation of the discriminatory policy towards Israel, towards the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the parties.”
Indonesia has spoken out against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and supported South Africa’s lawsuit at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide. However, on Tuesday an Indonesian aircraft participated in an airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza, marking the first time that an Indonesian aircraft has flown through Israeli airspace.
Indonesia was one of the Muslim-majority countries that Jerusalem was working to add to the Abraham Accords in the months before the Hamas-led invasion of October 7.
With a population of around 280 million, the southeastern Asian country is the most populous Muslim state in the world. Although Jakarta does not have official diplomatic ties with Jerusalem, there have been unofficial connections in trade, technology and tourism.
Photo Credit: Yohanes Budiyanto via Wikimedia Commons/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that Jerusalem’s unofficial diplomatic ties with Indonesia will form the basis for the normalization of relations between the two countries. Pray that Indonesia will indeed renounce its discriminatory policies toward Israel and that the establishment of formal diplomatic relations will give Israel another true ally in the Muslim world.
Scripture
I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.
Hamas Rejects Cease-fire Offer in Cairo
by Andrew Bernard ~ JNS
Members of Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the “military” wing of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, stand guard in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Tuesday, 9 April 2024 | Hamas rejected the latest cease-fire proposal on Monday, according to senior officials in the terror organization as reported by multiple news outlets.
“We reject the latest Israeli proposals that the Egyptian side informed us of. The politburo met today and decided this,” Ali Baraka, who is responsible for the Hamas’s foreign relations, told Reuters.
Another Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi, told the same to the Quds News Network on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, another Hamas official, whom Reuters didn’t name, told the news agency that “there is no change in the position of the occupation [Israel] and therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,” and that “there is no progress yet.”
Bill Burns, the CIA director, was in Cairo last weekend to present the offer, which reportedly included the release of additional Palestinian prisoners, whom Israel holds, in exchange for Hamas releasing 40 hostages and a three-stage cease-fire.
Hamas has repeatedly rejected previous cease-fire proposals, demanding a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and unrestricted movement of Palestinians from south Gaza to the northern part of the Strip.
The news of Hamas’s rejection of the deal broke as Matthew Miller, the US State Department spokesman, conducted a press briefing. Citing his policy of not commenting on news that comes to light during a briefing, Miller declined to comment on the latest Hamas rejection. But he said such a decision would be in line with its previous behavior.
“We have seen them reject a number of proposals before, that we have thought would deliver incredible benefits to the Palestinian people that they claim to represent,” he said. “Most notably cessation of hostilities, but also conditions on the ground that would allow the delivery of much, much more humanitarian assistance.”
Pro-Israel Congressman Ritchie Torres said that the rejection is a sign that Hamas and its military leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar feel empowered.
“The hyperbolic and hysterical demonization of Israel—from fair-weather friends—makes Hamas feel emboldened to continue rejecting cease-fires and continue holding the hostages captive,” Torres wrote. “Sinwar feels like he is winning.”
Earlier on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was briefed on the talks in Cairo and that a date is set for the launch of a ground operation into Rafah.
Miller told reporters that the United States has not been briefed on that date and continues to oppose a full-scale military operation in talks with Israeli counterparts.
“There will be further conversations over the coming days, coming weeks, where we can continue to lay out our beliefs about this potential operation and how they can achieve it in a better way,” Miller said.
Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that Hamas’s rejection of yet another cease-fire agreement will help the world to see that the terrorist organization is not interested in negotiating an agreement that would result in the release of the hostages. Rather, their goal is to leverage the situation to perpetuate the “hyperbolic and hysterical demonization of Israel.”
Scripture
They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You.
Iranian Officials Admit: Tehran Flooding Judea and Samaria with Weapons
by JNS
Armed Palestinian terrorists during a parade in the Balata camp in the Samaria city of Nablus
Wednesday, 10 April 2024 | As the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] fight Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, the Iranian regime continues to foment violence in Judea and Samaria by flooding the territory with weapons, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing officials in Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran.
Judea and Samaria saw a dramatic rise in terrorist attacks in 2023 compared to the previous year, with shootings reaching the highest level since the Second Intifada (uprising) of 2000–2005, according to Israeli military data.
The violence has continued to escalate since Hamas started a war with its murderous rampage across the northwestern Negev last year. Since October 7, at least eight Israelis have been murdered in Judea and Samaria.
Iranian officials told the Times that Tehran had not singled out one particular terrorist organization it would support with firearms and ammunition, choosing instead to inundate the area with weapons.
The majority of the weapons smuggled into Judea and Samaria are small arms and assault rifles, analysts said. However, the US and Israeli officials charged that the Islamic Republic is also smuggling advanced weaponry, including anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.
The Iranians explained that one smuggling route goes through Syria and Jordan. From Jordan, they are transferred to Bedouin smugglers and criminal gangs, who move them over the border to Judea and Samaria.
One of the officials said increased border security since October 7 by both Israel and Jordan has raised the risk of getting caught for the Bedouins and Arab Israelis, who play a critical role in the smuggling scheme.
A more challenging route skips Jordan and takes the guns from Syria to Lebanon, US officials said. From there, the weapons are smuggled into Israel, from where criminal groups move them to Judea and Samaria.
Last month, the Israel Security Agency [ISA or Shin Bet] revealed that it had thwarted Iranian attempts in recent months to smuggle advanced weapons into Judea and Samaria. These shipments were to be delivered to terror operatives in the territory for use against Israeli targets.
According to the Shin Bet, Unit 4000 of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Special Operations Division and Unit 18840 of the IRGC’s Quds Force in Syria were involved in the smuggling plot.
According to the statement, the ISA and IDF will continue working to locate additional weapons smuggled into Judea and Samaria and to capture terrorist cells recruited by Iranian operatives.
Photo Credit: Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that Israel will have all of the intelligence information needed for them to interrupt Iranian smuggling of arms into Judea and Samaria once and for all. Pray that their smuggling routes will be blocked and all of their accomplices arrested or otherwise dealt with.
Scripture
Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Hamas Misleading Data on Civilian Casualties in Gaza
by Sefi Kedmi ~ Ynetnews
A Palestinian man with his child in Gaza
Tuesday, 9 April 2024 | The global media consistently quotes Hamas’s figures regarding the casualties in Gaza. As of this writing, the number they cite uncritically is 33,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza. But these numbers are inflated and hide the fact that, in this war, the civilian casualty mortality rate is relatively low. It’s imperative to understand these figures, as Hamas’s sole way to survive is by increasing and inflating the civilian casualty figures, in order to pressure the international community to stop Israel’s just war on the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre.
First, the matter of credibility is important. It doesn’t seem to bother those quoting these figures that these numbers come from Gaza’s Health Ministry, controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas, which has a track record of blatant lying and a clear interest in inflating civilian casualty numbers while concealing its own combatant casualties. According to the Israel Defense Force’s [IDF] estimates, approximately 12,000 Hamas fighters have been killed so far in the fighting.
It’s crucial to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization whose data is misleading and easily disproved. The claim that 70% of the dead are women and children is easy to refute. If the IDF eliminated 12,000 Hamas fighters, almost all of whom are men, then accordingly that would lead to the conclusion that every man killed in Gaza is a Hamas member (and more), including the elderly, as the remaining 30% who are not women and children are by definition men. Moreover, 12,000 military casualties constitute 36% of the 33,000 reported to have been killed, meaning that there are about 2,000 of the Hamas casualties claimed by the IDF as killed (6% of 33,000) who should be categorized as women and children. This strengthens the argument that many of those categorized as children killed are actually young Hamas fighters and/or that Hamas simply lies.
Additionally, it appears that in Gaza, people don’t die unless it’s in a war. The natural mortality rate in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza, according to World Bank data, stands at 0.4%. Applied to the six months since the war began, this rate would be 0.2% out of a population of 2.2 million, meaning 4,400 individuals died in circumstances unrelated to the war, to Israel or to the conflict. However, they are of course counted by Hamas as war victims.
It is highly probable that all these deaths are civilians, mostly elderly and sick individuals, not fighting-age combatants. Moreover, the actual natural death toll is likely much higher, with many dying due to lack of proper health care resulting from the war’s strain on Gaza’s health care system. These thousands are also victims in the war instigated by Hamas and other terror organizations, who exploit humanitarian facilities for military purposes, thus making them military targets, which lead to them being attacked. Had they stayed civilian, these places would have not only provided care for the civilian population in Gaza, but would have also offered refuge for many.
These numbers alone reduce the civilian death toll in Gaza caused by Israeli attacks to at most 15,000 and probably even less, meaning less than half of the casualties are civilians.
Most casualties occurred at the beginning of the conflict when the IDF targeted its strikes from the air and when Hamas fired masses of rockets daily toward Israel. According to estimates, 25% of these rockets misfired and landed in Gaza, like the incident at al-Ahli Hospital, in which Hamas initially claimed that Israel destroyed the hospital and killed about 500 civilians. It later turned out to be an Islamic Jihad rocket, miraculously resulting in almost no casualties and without harming the hospital at all.
Unlike Israel, which ensured shelters and safe havens for its citizens, Hamas only made sure its own fighters are safe in the tunnels. From the start of the conflict until the end of the 2023, approximately 12,000 rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza. As a result, around 3,000 of the rockets launched by the terror groups landed on the Gazan civilian population, who had no shelter or other means of defense. These are likely a major cause of the high number of civilian casualties counted by the end of 2023, numbering about 22,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. This would also explain the high number of casualties of all ages since indiscriminate rockets do not know who they target, as opposed to rockets fired by the IDF, predominantly at military targets.
It cannot be seriously argued that 3,000 rockets landing on defenseless civilians had no significant impact on the 22,000 deaths until the end of 2023. Prior to the outbreak of war, many Palestinians were documented to have been killed by Palestinian rocket fire landing in Gaza. However, remarkably, after the war broke out, their documentation ceased.
In contrast to the terrorist organizations’ rockets, the IDF mostly targets specific objectives with precision, often based on specific intelligence. Moreover, the IDF frequently refrains from firing when there are many civilians in the area, especially children. Furthermore, there is ample evidence of Hamas terrorists firing at Gazan civilians who tried to flee war zones to the declared safe areas, or when they tried to get to the humanitarian aid which Hamas’s terrorists took control over.
Another widely quoted statistic is the number of children killed. Gaza indeed has a very high number of minors, accounting for about 75% of the population. But beyond the fact that Hamas and other terror groups sometimes shoot at their own civilians, they also use children and young adults as combatants. Many boys ages 12–18 are armed with RPGs [rocket propelled grenades] and rifles and, when sent to fight, they end up as Hamas’s cannon fodder and die in combat.
According to the lists published by Hamas, there’s hardly any difference between the death rates of boys and girls ages 0–9. However, the gap starts widening as the ages increase. The gap between boys’ deaths aged 10–13 is 20% higher than girls and between ages 14–17, the gap widens to 33%. Hamas’s use of child-fighters is heinous and is a double war crime against these poor children who are undoubtedly victims of the war Hamas chose to wage on Israel.
Nonetheless, it’s essential to understand the data when discussing child casualties and categorize them separately from civilian casualties, as they perish as combatants while carrying arms. However, in the global media, all minors who die are simply considered innocent children and are counted as such.
The main takeaway is that all wars are horrible and civilian casualties are inevitable in war, but this war was initiated by Hamas, whose sole chance of survival is to inflate the civilian casualty figures. Israel goes out of its way to minimize civilian casualties, not only for moral reasons but also because that’s in its own interests and it shouldn’t be singled out or held to unrealistic standards in a war it didn’t choose.
The international media should not play into the hands of those who had no problem raping, murdering and kidnapping civilians on October 7, knowing that this would lead to a severe retaliation on their own civilians. The media should not play into Hamas’s hands and allow it to distort reality and manipulate its way to survival. The first ones who will continue to pay the price for Hamas’s prolonged terror rule will be, as always, the Palestinians themselves.
Photo Credit: بدارين/Wikimedia.org
Photo License: Wikimedia
Prayer Focus
Cry out to the Lord that this information will come to the attention of the international community and that global leaders will be forced to recognize that Hamas is intentionally exaggerating the numbers of injuries and fatalities in Gaza. And cry out to the Lord that the media will be held accountable for its perpetuation of such false information and be forced to let the world know the truth.
Scripture
You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Efforts for Saudi–Israel Normalization Continue
by Ariel Kahana ~ JNS
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman leaving a mosque in Riyadh
Monday, 8 April 2024 | Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer’s agenda for his upcoming trip to Washington includes not only discussions on the planned Israel Defense Forces [IDF] anti-terrorism campaign in Rafah, but the continued efforts to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia as well, Israel Hayom reports.
Dermer is scheduled to meet with Saudi Ambassador to Washington Reema bint Bandar Al Saud to discuss the US-led effort. The trip is scheduled for next week, but it might be postponed. Dermer’s office has denied the report.
Meanwhile, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan postponed a planned trip to Riyadh last week after cracking his ribs. This was supposed to be a crucial visit in which the final details of the accord between the US and Saudi Arabia were supposed to be finalized. The meeting is expected to be held once Sullivan has recovered.
A political source told Israel Hayom there is a window of opportunity until May to secure the historic agreement. The leaders of the three countries have principal agreements, but there are also significant obstacles.
Israel will not agree to commit to stopping its anti-terrorism operation in Gaza but rather will demand freedom of action across the Strip, similar to what it has in Judea and Samaria.
Furthermore, Israel has rejected the demand for a commitment to establish a Palestinian state in the future. Jerusalem also insists that there should be no nuclear program development on Saudi soil.
In related news, the New York Times reported on Thursday night that former US President and presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It is unclear what the two men discussed and whether it was the first conversation between Trump and the Saudi prince since the former left office in 2021.
In an interview with Israel Hayom, Trump said that Israel has to “finish up your war. You gotta get it done. And, I am sure you will do that. And we gotta get to peace, we can’t have this going on…And you have to get on to peace, to get on to a normal life for Israel and for everybody else.”
Photo Credit: murathakanart/Shutterstock/jns.org
Prayer Focus
Pray that the pending agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia will not include any clauses that would hinder Israel’s ability to move forward with plans to dismantle Hamas and rebuild Gaza without Hamas’s evil influence. Pray that such an historic agreement will be signed to the benefit of both countries and the region, despite the difficulties presented by the current situation in Gaza.
Scripture
Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them also, and bear them up forever.
Polls: Israel Lost all Sympathy it Received after October 7
by Itamar Eichner ~ Ynetnews
An anti-Israel protest in Washington, DC
Thursday, 11 April 2024 | Recent polls conducted in the US and Europe showed the Foreign Ministry that support for Israel has waned back to before October 7 numbers. Therefore, despite the horrors committed by Hamas, the six months of war followed by the high number of Palestinian casualties (whether civilian or terrorist), caused Israel to lose all the sympathy and support it received after the massacre.
After October 7, Israel benefitted from immense and unprecedented support from the world, which shocked by the actions of Hamas terrorists in the Gaza border communities. The downward trend of recent months reflects several phenomena: the effect of exposure of the world to images of what is happening in Gaza; reports of a humanitarian crisis, hunger, and harm to children; the absence of a clear Israeli plan for the “day after,” outlining the end of the war; and the distress of the American President of the US, who feels Israel is undermining him.
The lack of support for Israel among younger generations is divided into several levels, the most extreme of which is the belief that Israel is a European-American colonialist aggressor; the less extreme group sees that Israel is unwilling to compromise and that the Palestinian side is currently suffering while Israel is the one causing harm. Extreme statements by Israeli ministers exacerbate the situation, making it much more complicated.
In addition, Israel also suffered a serious hit to its image following October 7, shocking Israel supporters who were confident that it was strong enough to face any threat that emerged. Now the feeling is that Israel is weak and dependent, and therefore attacks against it are increasing. “It will take many years, perhaps even decades, to repair the reputational damage caused to Israel in recent months,” said senior officials. “These are deep, destructive processes that take a long time to fix.”
Photo Credit: Ted Eytan/Wikimedia.org
Photo License: Wikimedia
Prayer Focus
Cry out to the Lord for a victory for truth. Pray that sanity will be restored to the nations and Israel’s war with Hamas recognized for what it is: a battle between good and evil. Pray that the IDF’s extreme measures to limit civilian casualties will be revealed and believed. And ask the Lord to show the nations the reality of Hamas’s callous disregard for the Palestinian people and their willingness to kill their own to further their campaign to delegitimize Israel.
Scripture
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Defense Ministry Braces for 20,000 Injured by End of Year
by Nir (Shoko) Cohen ~ Ynetnews
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visits a wounded soldier (illustrative).
Tuesday, 9 April 2024 | The Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation of Wounded Department is bracing for up to 20,000 additions to its patients by the end of the year. There are more than 6,800 wounded since the war began, including 3,202 members of the military, as well as police officers and members of the security forces.
Tzipi Feldman, an official in the department, said its members arrive to offer assistance to every one of those who were wounded. “We meet him and begin the process. Those who are suffering from emotional wounds, we get to later because they themselves don’t always know what they are going through and the ramifications of war can appear years later.”
Feldman said the red tape involved in their work has been cut. “Things have changed, more so since the war. It is clear. We provide for all the wounded’s needs, whether its special treatments, care for the families or financial support.”
Among the wounded in the Gaza war are 71% who were in the military reserves, half of them under the age of 30, and 5% or 351 women. Each month 1,200 more wounded are added to the department’s roster. Three hundred and three are still hospitalized, 6% of them in serious condition. Some 42% are suffering from injuries to their limbs, and 21% suffer from PTSD or other emotional injuries.
“Our aim is to help those who were wounded to come as close as possible to their lives prior to the war or learn to adapt to their new condition and fulfil their potential,” Friedman said.
“We realized since the war began that the families of those hurt must also be helped during their loved ones’ hospitalization and through their rehabilitation. We provide a comprehensive response, including emotional and financial support, so that the families would be able to concentrate on the wounded. Each wounded soldier or security force member is assigned a contact person who is available to respond to any need.”
Photo Credit: IDF disabled/wikimedia.org
Photo License: Wikimedia
Prayer Focus
Thank God for the Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation of Wounded Department and the work they are doing to facilitate the rehabilitation of the thousands who have been injured by Hamas. Pray that as the numbers increase, their department will have the staffing and resources they need to continue providing the wounded and their families everything they need for recovery.
Scripture
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
Who’s to Blame for the Death of the WCK Aid Workers in Gaza?
by Ilse Strauss
The World Central Kitchen vehicle after the IDF strike
Thursday, 11 April 2024 | The tragic killing of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in an Israel Defense Forces [IDF] strike in the Gaza Strip on April 1 was a terrible disaster. It shouldn’t have happened. And we should mourn for seven people who were killed while selflessly alleviating suffering in a war-torn area.
Yet unfortunately, the death of innocent civilians—and of aid workers, journalists and others who come to the frontline to help the innocent civilians—is an all too common tragic reality during the madness and mayhem of war. And it’s hardly isolated to happening on the IDF’s watch.
It is important to highlight that Israel did own up to the grave blunder without delay. Within hours after the strike, the IDF also launched an in-depth investigation lead by the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism [FFAM]. Four days later, the findings were presented to the IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the WCK organization, international ambassadors and journalists.
Without sugarcoating the error or shirking responsibility, the IDF admitted that “the strike on the aid vehicles was a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”
Following the identified of the responsible parties, Halevi also announced disciplinary action, with two senior officers dismissed and three other senior officers reprimanded.
The swift investigation and the equally swift disciplinary steps against top commanders highlight just how seriously the IDF takes such incidents and stand as a testament to the Israeli government’s commitment to own up to failure.
But how could something like this happen in the first place? Sadly, easier than one would like to believe. According to the IDF, the misidentification occurred after forces believed they spotted one and then another Hamas terrorist on one of the aid trucks. But what about the prominent vehicle markings, you ask. According to Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, only someone who has never observed drone optics at night during the fog of war would ask such a question.
In fact, such misidentification is more common than one would think. Case in point. During former US President Barack Obama’s first day in office in January 2009, the new commander-in-chief ordered a drone strike in Pakistan that killed up to 20 civilians. During his two terms in office, Obama would order 540 more strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen in which hundreds of civilians perished. Perhaps the most well-known of these tragedies occurred in October 2015 when a US gunship attacked a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, killing 42 staff members and patients.
Misidentification mars current US President Joe Biden’s record too. During the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, US forces conducted a strike on what they thought was a terrorist transporting bombs. This case of mistaken identity cost the lives of 10 innocent civilians, including seven children.
Did Obama or Biden set out to murder the innocent? Of course not. But unfortunately, horrors like this occur frequently in the chaos, confusion, danger, destruction, mental overload, pressure and technical failure of war—for the exact same reasons that the WCK aid workers perished in Gaza on April 1. Moreover, the situation is exacerbated further when it isn’t two armies facing each other on the battlefield but rather an army trying to dislodge a terror group in civilian clothes posing as civilians and burrowed into every aspect of civilian life, like Hamas does in the Gaza Strip.
Yes, every army must make every effort to avoid harm to civilians. And no, accidents like these should not be swept under the rug. There should be independent investigations. Responsibility must be taken. Lessons must be learned. Yet you cannot escape the fact that anyone who steps onto the frontlines put themselves at risk of being killed or wounded.
Of course this does not detract from the tragedy of seven selfless individuals killed while trying to do good. But it does put the situation into perspective.
You can decry the killing of the WCK aid workers as a tragic mistake. But what you cannot do is turn this tragic mistake—a mistake that sadly occurs all too frequently in the chaos of war—into something of which Israel is solely guilty.
War is brutal beyond anything noncombatants can imagine. Israel did not want this war. If Hamas didn’t attack a sovereign nation on October 7, this war would not be raging, and the seven WCK aid workers and the civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip would still be alive. That is why the sole responsibility for every death in this war, including that of the WCK aid workers, rests with Hamas, not Israel.
Source: (Bridges for Peace, April 11, 2024)
Photo Credit: Tasnim/Wikimedia.org
Photo License: Wikimedia
Prayer Focus
Pray that the world will realize that Hamas was not surprised by Israel’s response to the October 7 massacre or the horror of the ongoing war. They knew full well that Palestinian civilians would be killed in the fighting and their cold-hearted intent was always to use that fact to vilify Israel in the arena of public opinion. Pray that those who are siding with Hamas and raising their voices against Israel will have a revelation of the truth and put the blame for this tragedy squarely on Hamas where it belongs.
Scripture
“And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
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