GNITN – Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 25
Anatomy Of Terrorism

Israel Fighting In Northern Gaza

(Show Slide 1)

As opposed to air strikes and tank incursions, now we are seeing the Israel Defense Force (IDF) fighting on the ground and they eliminated 50 terrorists as they took control of their military base there. Unfortunately, the IDF lost two soldiers, (show slide 2 here ) Sergeant Roei Wolf, 20 years old, from Ramat Gan, a fighter in the Givati ​​Patrol and Sergeant Lavi Lipshitz, 20 years old, from Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut, a fighter in the Givat patrol, in the fighting. While it would be nice to see no casualities, IDF lives will be killed due to the nature of fighting in person as seen in this article from The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-october-31-2023/) :

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says fighting in the Gaza Strip is becoming more complex as troops operate deeper into the Hamas-run territory.

“This is complex hand-to-hand combat. In the fierce battles that took place today, we lost troops,” he says.

Paying A Heavy Price

In an interview with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the wins in the battle are big, but the cost is high. Here is how Gallant describes this aspect of the war in an article from i24news.tv (see https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/1698776681-idf-takes-control-of-hamas-military-base-and-eliminates-50-terrorists-in-northern-gaza) :

Israeli Defense Minister Gallant visited the IDF Palmachim base earlier, addressing soldiers, "We are deploying forces on a large scale, in the depth of the Strip, there are battles against the forces that operate and the results and achievements on the battlefield are very high. Unfortunately, in war there are also prices, and the prices in the last day were heavy prices."

Houthi Missile Intercepted

In other news, a missile sent from Yemen was taken down along with drones as seen in the same live blog from The Times Of Israel:

On an intercepted missile and several drones launched from Yemen toward Israel today, Hagari says “There are many elements in the region that are under Iranian orders such as the Houthis.”

“They try to challenge us, divert our attention away from the war in Gaza. We remain focused on the fighting in Gaza,” he says.

He says the IDF “will know how to respond, at the time and place of our choosing.”

As we mentioned in our previous podcast, the Hezbollah attacks from the north may only amount to a distraction to allow Hamas to succeed and it could be said that these attacks from Yemen may be a similar distraction. A full throated attack from Hezbollah is not something Israel needs now as the Gaza offensive is heading into high gear.

Hostages with Foreign Passports May Be Released

(Show slide 3 here)

Going back to the live blog on The Times Of Israel referenced previously, we see that Hamas is apparently ready to release hostages from other countries at the behest their individual countries:

A Hamas military wing spokesman announces that the terror group will release a number of hostages with foreign nationalities in the upcoming days.

The spokesman, who goes by Abu Ubeida, says the decision has come as a result of the mediation of “some countries.”

Hamas has previously said it does not plan to keep foreign hostages. Israel has rejected such a differentiation and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages and dismissed Hamas promises as a form of psychological warfare… Around 50 of the hostages are said to be in the hands of terror groups other than Hamas, most notably the Islamic Jihad. The claim cannot be verified.

As we read further in the live blog, Hamas intends to take out Prime Minister Netanyahu and wants help to do it and more:

Weighing in on Israeli domestic affairs, the terror group’s spokesman claims the war will mark the end of the political career of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, noting that if he managed to free only one hostage one month into the war, it will take him another 20 years to free the rest of them.

Abu Ubeida reiterates calls on the Islamic nation to join the battle and defend the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The question with any of these statements coming from Hamas is always if they are telling the truth or, what ulterior motives they have with anything they do and say.

America’s Misguided Plan For Gaza

(show slide 4 here)

According to our Secretary of State, putting the Palestinian Authority back in power in Gaza is a good plan. Relying once again on reporting from The Times Of Israel we read this:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority should retake control of Gaza if Israel succeeds in its goal of toppling Hamas, but that regional partners and international agencies could play an interim role.

The stance given in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee is the first time that the Biden administration has publicly declared its desire for the PA to return to Gaza after privately raising the idea with regional partners since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Hamas ousted the PA from Gaza in 2007 after winning a plurality of the vote in the enclave’s last election a year before.

“At some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza,” Blinken tells the Senate hearing.

Blinken also said that Israel shouldn’t even mention controlling the area:

Blinken says that there cannot be a “reversion of the status quo with Hamas running Gaza.”

“We also can’t have — and the Israelis start with this proposition themselves — Israel running or controlling Gaza,” he says.

I seem to recall the Israeli leadership saying as much when they said the two-state experiment is over. I’m pretty sure that means anyone controlling the area.

Such Bad Thinking Going On

As I always try and do, I want to examine the Biblical perspective here, but first I have to set that up with the physical world madness being thrown out by even conservative pundits. One person posted on X/Twitter that showing the underground layout of the main headquarters of Hamas which is under a large hospital was tantamount to saying that the IDF intends to destroy it, patients, and staff and all. Such talk is ludicrous, but it contradicts what the IDF has already said and that is Israel doesn’t target civilians or places where they live and work. This includes hospitals, homes, places of worship and many other places where Hamas works near or in using people as human shields. Terrorists use humanitarian concerns against civilized nations to their advantage. In Afghanistan, the Taliban or al Qaeda used women and children as targets daring United States forces to shoot them to get to where they were stationed. And is one child is killed in collateral fighting, they parade that death and body to accuse America of taking the lives of innocent civilians. So how will the IDF eliminated the headquarters below the hospital? Give them the benefit of the doubt as they do their best to evacuate the hospital to ships waiting off shore equipped with medical facilities to continue treating the patients. Hamas will most likely make it difficult to do this, but if they interfere, any casualties will be on them as long as the media don’t fall from the terrorist spinmeisters.

Making Good Look Bad

Hamas like all terrorists groups and nations also use their versions of the truth to make the good guys into the bad guys. They don’t fight fairly at all and do things like take hostages to leverage against anyone that gets in their way. They’ll make it look like they are treating everyone well, leaving out that they captured them in the first place. And they will always only appear to release people they ripped from their lives when it helps them and their ulterior motives. Also, any of the terrible things that they do will be justified by some past hurts they experienced by the good guys who only tried to be nice and compromise with them, but it was never enough. The sleight of hand they use is top notch and they use it as a distraction as they continue to plot and scheme for their next ruse.

Demonic Tactics In Both The Physical And The Spiritual

For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world. (Eph 6:12. TLB)

Demons are the terrorists of the spiritual world and they inspire earthly terrorists as well. As we see in the classic book The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, thousands of years of deception are helpful tools on the toolbelt of the demons Satan deploys as he steals, kills, and destroys God’s children and His creation overall. If you are willing to let Holy Spirit lead you into the truth of these nefarious maneuvers, you’ll be able to see through the earthly terrorist schemes as well. As I sometimes say, it’s not brain science or rocket surgery usually with a wink and a nod to the real saying. The devil has been doing this since before time began and the plans he uses work more often than not, even with rock solid believers, so why should he do anything new now? The answer is, he won’t. As we pray that Israel has wisdom from on high as they fight their enemies, we should do the same thing for us in our fight with principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Let the varsity wrestling begin!