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** 21 March 2024
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Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) invaded Israel on 7^th October 2023. They raped, pillaged, and massacred over a thousand innocent people, and took hundreds as hostages back into their tunnels in Gaza. Around 130 hostages remain in captivity, it is not known how many are alive. All of these are demonstrably war crimes of the most heinous kind.

Since then, Israel has been launching an operation to destroy Hamas’s capabilities and liberate not only the hostages but also the Palestinian people from the totalitarian Hamas regime.

Now, almost six months into the war, Israel has managed to destroy large parts of Hamas, but this has come at massive cost of civilian lives and the destruction of large parts of Gaza. Moreover it is becoming questionable whether Israel will be able to destroy Hamas’ capabilities. Four battalions and the Hamas leadership are still in control of the last bastion, the city of Rafah, in the south on the Egyptian border. Israel wants to go into Rafah to wipe out Hamas there. But thousands of displaced Palestinians from northern parts of Gaza have sought shelter in Rafah.

An attack on Hamas tunnels in Rafah will inevitably cause huge destruction of buildings and infrastructure and cost thousands of lives. The UN warns of a massive humanitarian crisis. Various plans are being prepared to ensure provision of food, water, medicines, clothing and sanitation to the people in the south of Gaza. The US is planning to build a temporary maritime pier to facilitate large-scale aid delivery – a project not without risks, as former US Navy Commander David Levy reports (below).

The US, Israel’s most important ally, refuses to approve Israel’s plans to attack Rafah. This has caused a diplomatic crisis. Biden and Netanyahu are at loggerheads. Negotiations are taking place at the highest level in Washington and Jerusalem.

In parallel, there are also negotiations involving USA and Qatar for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. So far, Hamas and Israel have been unable to agree.

At the same time as Hamas has lured Israel into a hopeless war on the ground, the Palestinians have launched a legal war against Israel in the international courts. South Africa brought proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice under the Genocide Convention. And the Palestinians are also claiming before the same court that the Jewish State of Israel is an illegitimate incursion on Palestinian right to self-determination in all of Palestine – i.e. “from the River to the Sea”.

It seems the Palestinians have been preparing for years to create this legal and military “perfect storm”. As military law expert John Spencer has stated, Hamas knew that Israeli Defense Forces would respond with force to its October 7 assault in southern Israel:

"They wanted Israel's counterattack, and then they wanted to hold in the tunnels and use the hostages just to buy time for the international community—namely, the United States—to stop the IDF in their operations.

"Their only goal is to survive. ... It's all about time. They want to survive Israel's attack against them, which gives them immense political power. If they survive in any way, they have strategically won the war."

As Caroline Glick observes, “Hamas didn't invent this strategy. This has been the Palestinians' strategy for defeating Israel since at least the 1982 war in Lebanon. In that war, the PLO relied on the United States to force Israel to permit the PLO to survive to fight another day by evacuating to Tunisia.”

Let us continue to lift this complex situation before the Lord. Humanly speaking there are no satisfactory solutions. We must pray for the people of Israel and the hostages still being held in Gaza, as well as the Palestinians in Gaza who are held hostage by their own regime Hamas. Pray also for the leaders of Israel and the USA at this time. Pray for supernatural intervention, that the Lord will change hearts and minds.

The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today

Israel Betrayed?
Guy Millière at Gatestone: “It seems clear that the Biden administration would like to see the rapid creation of a Palestinian state or at least a "Palestinian unity government" – unfortunately composed of the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist group Hamas – and, abracadabra, recognize it.”
Read more ([link removed])

Israel’s Strategic Game of Survival
Caroline Glick at Gatestone: “Israel must conquer Rafah in defiance of the Biden's redline and do so as quickly as possible.”
Read more ([link removed])

New PA premier demands ‘trust of our people,’ as most support Hamas
Akiva van Koningsveld at JNS: “Only 8.5% of Palestinians favor the status quo, where the P.A. is controlled exclusively by Mohammad Mustafa's Fatah faction.”
Read more ([link removed])

Why the world is wrong in comparing Gaza to any other conflict
Caroline Glick at JNS speaks with John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, about what he calls wrongful comparisons between Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and other conflicts. Spencer first made headlines when he posited in several Newsweek articles that the civilian casualty number is actually quite low; that Israel was in full compliance with international law; and that any comparison to urban warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq is entirely incorrect. He breaks down his arguments and explains that despite what the international community believes, Israel is winning the war.
Read more ([link removed])

Port of No Return: The US Plan for Aid Relief in Gaza
David Levy at BESA: “The US has embarked on a significant humanitarian initiative in Gaza, planning to establish a temporary maritime pier to facilitate large-scale aid delivery. This strategic move, announced by President Biden, aims to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by ensuring the steady flow of food, water, medicine, and shelter to the region. While the initiative demonstrates the US commitment to humanitarian assistance, it also carries great risks.”
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** Global Hour of Unity for the Hostages
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Today (March 21) it is Ta’anit Esther (the Fast of Esther), and the families of the hostages organized a moment of unity for the hostages at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. You can watch the recording

Join the hostage families, hear their voices and exclusive stories, concluding with the greatest moment of prayer and solidarity, with millions of Jews from around the world reciting ‘The Shema’ together.

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** SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
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** Psalm 26:8-12

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Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.
^9 Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with those who are bloodthirsty,
^10 in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes.
^11 I lead a blameless life; deliver me and be merciful to me.
^12 My feet stand on level ground; in the great congregation I will praise the Lord.

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Our mission is to bring Biblical understanding in the Church and among the nations concerning God’s purposes for Israel and to promote comfort of Israel through prayer and action.

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