A Voice on the Ground in Israel

(This week, I’d like to post some thoughts from an Israeli friend of mine, Jonathan Feldstein. He posted this on January 14, and his perspective I think sums up the feeling of most Israelis regarding the war Hamas brought on October 7. Jonathan is a very insightful, wise, and stable person that understands what Americans believed on the evening of Sunday, December 7, 1941.)

Post by Jonathan Feldstein, Israel

I’m not a military expert but to US officials who are urging a “low intensity” war I have two words: piss off.

Yes, I respect and appreciate US support.

Despite the third largest number of Americans being massacred on October 7 since September 11, American calls to have a low intensity war (probably a new term made up just for creating double standards for Israel) are absurd.

Such a notion puts more Israeli lives at risk and as much as it is nobody’s goal to have innocent civilian casualties in Gaza (whatever that means in a population which elected Hamas to office, celebrated the October 7 massacre gleefully, and still overwhelmingly supports Hamas, and among whom they have allowed Hamas to entrench themselves and their weapons while using them as human shields), Israel has zero obligation to put its own citizens at risk in order to protect anyone else.

If the Biden administration is relying on the Hamas numbers which are not reliable and not verified it lures itself into an obscene trap by the Islamic terrorists. Hamas has not even provided a credible list of the hostages or their status much less allowing anyone to visit and check on their well-being. I’d like to ask the Biden administration who the innocent civilians who Hamas claims are being killed in excessive numbers really are. And I’d like to ask that even if 20,000 plus have been killed and if at least a third to half of them were terrorist combatants, how in any way with the fire power that Israel has does this represent anything other than meticulous precision, albeit with the unfortunate reality of civilians being killed too.

I’d like to ask the Biden administration if calls for a low intensity war are not in reality the repetition of past failed US policies that have appeased and strengthened Islamic terrorists all over the world including Hamas in Gaza which was able to build up and plan the inhumane massacre to begin with, Hezbollah in Lebanon which threatens to ignite a much more widespread conflict with many Lebanese civilian casualties, the Houthis in Yemen which have conveniently disrupted global shipping and other threats, of course the Islamic regime in Iran that is the head of the snake and which sniffs out weakness and looks for any opportunity to attack kill and destroy anyone and anything possible threatening the entire world and of course let’s not forget the big military retreat in Afghanistan, a high intensity failure.

Let’s not talk about low intensity war but a nonstop intensity by whatever means necessary to eliminate the enemy.

Stay Focused!

Israel is, by all accounts, entering a new phase in its war with Hamas. I’ve heard good and bad: Israel walked into a trap with this war; Israel is right on schedule.

One thing we know for sure; this is a complex and long-range war.

Before diving into the latest reports, I want to emphasize to all of us, including myself—stay focused. Don’t be distracted by negative news reports, or commentaries that cause you to fret. Our job is two-fold: pray fervently for Israel and keep our eyes locked on what Scripture tells us.

In this era especially, staying focused on what the text of Scripture actually says is much preferable to being pushed this way and that by a limitless number of online voices.

The most important thing we know is that Israel is here to stay.

Meditate on that and keep in the forefront of your thoughts.

Now, I noticed this week a photo of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken meeting with Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Tellingly, the U.S. flag is missing while the (made up) Palestinian flag is behind Abbas! At the same time, Abbas is checking his watch. All this was by design of the terrorists. Passive aggressive letting the world’s superpower that we have no respect for you at all. Through all this, the Regime in Washington continues to funnel our tax dollars to the PA/PLO so that they can, among other things, give money to the “martyrs,” murderers of Jews and their families.

Disgusting.

As for the military situation, Israel has decided that the northern Gaza Strip is secure enough to simply maintain control, while intense fighting has shifted to the south. In particular, Khan Yunis is the nerve-center of Hamas activity and Israel is moving to dismantle it. Only yesterday, they announced they’ve found to date the biggest weapons facility yet unearthed.

Also, it is confirmed that Hamas arch villain Yahya Sinwar is literally using the hostages as human shields. This has prevented the IDF from killing him long ago. There are times when one feels that evil has degrees. Sinwar is on the higher end of the evil spectrum.

(Let’s not forget the threat from the north with Lebanon and Syria. To date, the IDF has killed about 200 Hezbollah terrorists, amid 620 terror attacks. At present, thousands of Israeli citizens had to leave their homes in the area.)

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:

“The penetration IDF forces into Khan Yunis continued. They clashed with a large number of terrorist squads that tried to attack them. A UAV launch site, weapons and valuable intelligence materials were located in terrorists’ houses. The fighters also located a tunnel shaft, a rocket launching position, and a combat compound which were situated near a school and a kindergarten (IDF spokesperson, January 10, 2024). During the operation in the Khirbat Khiza’a area, the fighters raided terrorist facilities, many of which were situated in schools, youth clubs and municipal buildings, locating a large number of tunnel shafts, tunnel routes and weapons.”

The IDF is using heavy mortar fire to take the fight to Hamas in the south.

As to the hostages—the only card Hamas has to play—according to the report:

“In response to the report in the Israeli media about a new proposal for a hostage deal, which included the removal of the Hamas leadership from Gaza, senior Hamas figure Osama Hamadan claimed that in principle there was no such initiative, the talk of the leadership’s leaving was ‘an illusion,’ and the idea of disarming the ‘resistance’ [terrorist organizations] was naive and did not reflect an understanding of the facts. He claimed the reports in the Israeli media were ‘fraudulent and disinformation’ designed to calm the angry Israeli public, especially the families of the hostages. He reiterated that Hamas would not accept any prisoner exchange initiative unless it was based on a complete end to the ‘aggression’ in the Gaza Strip. He added that there was currently no talk of any initiative and they adhered to their position, which they had presented to the mediators as the basis for any idea or initiative regarding an exchange deal.”

Even my dog understands that the minute the hostages are all released, Hamas ceases to exist. The terror group’s gameplan is to keep them indefinitely, so that international pressure causes Israel to finally agree to a ceasefire. No one knows what the outcome of this will be, but the terrible decisions facing Israel come down to either fully prosecuting the war, or following the recent American model of failing to secure full victory.

In the meantime, the Regime in Washington continues its evil pressure on the Jewish state.

As for me, I am meditating on the beauty and security of God’s word. Things have looked bleak before, just ahead of an astonishing victory.

My bet is on the Lord and His People.

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