Shalom from a very tense Galilee! Iran said that one of their revenge strategies is to create uncertainty within Israel. The resultant fear of many of my fellow citizens as they wait for the missiles to come flying over our borders causes great satisfaction for the ayatollahs and their minions.
The question is whether Iran will decide to do more. There are many reasons why they should think twice. Israel has already promised severe retribution if Tehran strikes. These are not empty threats as we have already proven multiple times that whether it is flying in for an airstrike or carrying out a targeted killing, there is no place in Iran that is out of our reach. Other nations have also warned the Islamic regime against attacking Israel. Chief amongst these allies is the United States, who have brought the fresh USS Abraham Lincoln strike force into the region to give the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike force a break.
As the ayatollahs consider their next move, there is one truth that I now believe might stay their hand to an extent. They are not going to risk their existence just because some Arab Hamas leader got blown up in their capital. In fact, this really has nothing to do with Hamas. It’s all about the Ayatollah saving face. When Persian Iran strikes, it will be in a manner that they believe will show that you can’t just waltz into Tehran and kill someone, even if it is just an Arab.
Where I think that Israel needs to be most focused right now is in Lebanon with Hezbollah. There is no other path to a lasting peace except through war with the terrorist organization. I pray that one morning very soon I will wake up to discover that Israel has made a preemptive strike. Undoubtedly, it will lead to at least two difficult months ahead. There are ten times more tunnels in Lebanon and ten times more hostages, although the hostages there are the innocent Lebanese people. But if we are eventually going to be able to send our 80,000 refugees back to their homes along the northern Israeli border, then Hezbollah must be gone.
The problem we are facing is that everyone is tired of war. Hamas and Hezbollah are tired of it. They were sure that Netanyahu would be gone by now and that his replacement would have signed some sort of agreement putting everything back to how it was before. That’s how it was always done in the past. Why wouldn’t it be that way now? But October 7 crossed a line. Israel is not going to surrender, and we are not going to settle.
But it isn’t just the terrorists who are tired of war. Israelis have serious war fatigue also. It has been ten months that this has been hanging over us. The wars of the past were over in days or just a few weeks. For a majority of Israelis, though, those battles belonged to the previous generation. This is all new to them. They’ve never experienced this kind of constant stress, wondering if today will be the day that a horde of terrorists pours over the borders and they are now the ones who are being attacked in their homes. Or, more likely, whether they will go to bed one night and never wake up because a rocket will land on their house.
When it comes to the big picture, though, I know the end of the story. I know how this is going to work out. That knowledge sets me apart from a vast majority of those around me, because most Israelis are not sitting and reading the Bible. They are watching television and listening to news sources and reading social media. That kind of click-bait, fake news input only brings fear and anxiety.
Thousands of people have lost their jobs, particularly in the tourism industry. Tens of thousands remain evacuated from their family homes. It sounds surreal to say, but many of us in Israel are looking forward to another war. Actually, what we are really looking forward to is the peace that will finally come after the war. But to get to “after the war”, you’ve got to go through “the war”.
Lebanon
As I mentioned above, the tensions to the north of Israel increase daily. Many countries have pulled officials from Lebanon in preparation for a war between Israel and the terrorist group, Hezbollah. The United States government says that it has plans to evacuate up to 100,000 citizens from the nation.
Last Friday, Hezbollah launched a massive barrage of rockets and missiles toward the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee. Since October 8, the terrorist group has launched more than 7,500 missiles and 200 drones at Israel which killed 43 Israelis, 19 of whom were soldiers, and wounded 271 more. These projectiles also started 790 fires which have burned 40,000 acres of land.
In preparation for a possible attack, Israel has increased intelligence measures over the skies of Lebanon and Iran. The strikes by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) have been well-planned and persistent as it seeks to soften the capabilities of Hezbollah prior to full-blown war. The ground of northern Israel shook Tuesday when, just across the border in Kfarkela, Lebanon, the IAF dropped three MK-84 bunker buster bombs from an F-35 jet. This was the first time since the beginning of hostilities that these munitions were used.
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