Assad, too, is gone from Syria, and we’ve made sure that the massive store of weapons that he left behind is less than usable for any rebel groups who have rushed in to fill the leadership vacuum. It’s true that the Houthis still like to lob a missile at us every now and then just so they can feel relevant, but the sand is quickly running out of their hourglass. Payback is coming soon – in fact, you’ll see in breaking news below, it has already begun. Vengeance is coming to the Houthis and it will destroy once and for all the last bent spoke of Iran’s axis of evil.
All of that helps me to look at this coming season of Hanukkah and Christmas with true hope. With both holidays, we celebrate God’s provision coming at just the right time. Many will unite with their loved ones to rejoice over the birth of the Messiah, while those of us here in Israel will gather together as families to celebrate our festival of lights. But for many of us Israelis, the celebration will be different than it once was.
This Hanukkah, there will be joy, but it will be tempered. As a people, we Israelis have aged over these last 14 months. Our gladness is moderated by both a very deep sorrow at what so many of our people have suffered and a greater perspective which recognizes that we have survived this fire but the global flames of antisemitism still burn.
Yemen
Why is Yemen shooting missiles at Israel? Why are they even in this fight? In the past, it was solely because of Iran. When Iran said to shoot a missile, the Houthis asked, “How high?” But now that Iran’s terrorist axis has broken down with the fall of Syria, the fact that this group shot another ballistic rocket at Israel on Monday makes no sense. That’s more than a half-dozen ballistic missiles and five drones just since the beginning of November. It’s like the enemy soldier who knows that his side has lost but refuses to stop fighting. Because of his stubborn stupidity, a bullet will eventually take him out. Those bullets are already coming Yemen’s way. On Monday, U.S. CENTCOM conducted a precision airstrike against a command-and-control facility in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. It was from this facility that plans were made to attack U.S. navy warships and merchant vessels.
Then, in breaking news from last night, the Houthis fired yet another missile at Israel, as well as sent a drone. Little did they know that Israeli F-16s were already on their way to Yemen’s capital. Once the Houthi ballistic missile reached Israeli airspace, it was brought down by an Arrow 3 interceptor. The Arrow 3 is a sophisticated, non-explosive interceptor that destroys enemy projectiles through kinetic contact, which causes the missile’s warhead to explode. Not having a warhead itself makes the Arrow 3 lighter and faster but also requires it to be super-accurate. This interceptor broke the Houthi’s missile into pieces but didn’t set off its warhead, which eventually detonated when it struck the ground at an empty school in Ramat Gan. No one was injured. The drone was also taken out.
The Yemeni rebels did not get off quite so easily. Fourteen IDF fighter jets raced into Yemen, dropping dozens of bombs on targets in the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa, and Al-Salif. In the capital city of Sana’a, fuel and oil tanks, along with a power station, were hit. This coordinated strike is the first time that Israel has struck the capital city. All the F-16s accomplished their missions, and all returned home safely. As Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said following the strike, “Whoever raises a hand against the State of Israel, his hand will be cut off. Whoever harms us will be harmed sevenfold.”
Lebanon
We are in the third week of the ceasefire, and Israel continues to strike targets in Lebanon. “But, Amir, doesn’t that mean that Israel is breaking its word?” No, it doesn’t. We committed to not pushing any farther into Lebanon, and to even pull back. However, we also said that we would continue to destroy any offensive weapons that could be used against us by Hezbollah. These “cleaning” operations are continuing all over the South.
Gaza
Will there be a hostage deal before Donald Trump returns to the presidency? It’s hard to say. Trump has promised action when he is in power, but that’s still a month away. Even though Hamas is 95% destroyed, they are still attempting to maintain political power. As of now, their greatest asset is humanitarian aid and public opinion. They say that their people are starving and that Israel is the reason why. By inflating the casualty numbers and deflating the huge number of humanitarian trucks Israel has sent into Gaza, they sway the gullible, liberal masses to their side.
Antisemitic bastions like the United Nations and the World Food Bank have all condemned Israel for having a siege mentality toward the Gazans. The truth is that Hamas is stealing the supplies sent in, keeping what they want for themselves, then selling the rest to civilians at inflated prices.
Because their leadership is pretty much gone, Hamas is now operating more as a criminal gang than a terrorist organization. There is no long-range thinking. Their plan is to steal all they can and fight to the very last human shield. Then, they hope to scurry away. The problem is that the IDF has blocked all their avenues of escape, and even if they did get away, there is no country that would take them. They are pariahs, even among Muslim countries. The United Nations loves them, as long as they stay where they are. But they certainly don’t want them within their borders. The best course of action for Hamas is to surrender now, while they still have workable lungs. Then, they can pray that enough mercy is extended to them to allow them to spend the rest of their lives in a prison cell.
Judea and Samaria
There is one more setting for an Iranian attack against Israel, and that is in the West Bank and Samaria. Tehran is trying to stir up the Arab population in order to set them loose on the Israeli population. This has led the IDF to deploy Rafael’s Sentry Tech surveillance system, complete with a remote-controlled machine gun on top. In addition, there are regular military operations into the West Bank to weed out members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). These raids, however, aren’t the only thing that the terrorists need to watch out for. Now that all has fallen apart down in Gaza, these two primary groups in the West Bank have begun fighting each other. That works for us. Let the terrorists fight the terrorists, then the IDF can just follow the sound of the gunfire and take them all into custody.
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