GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 172

God Is Still Using Israel

Terrorists Were In Hospital For Months

In an article from The Jerusalem Post we read that the raid on the Shifa Hospital and the subsequent interrogations of the captured terrorists is yielding a great deal of intelligence:

The IDF's particular intelligence unit for interrogations, Unit 504, on Tuesday published initial findings and recordings of questioning terrorists, in which they admit to their terror groups abusing Shifa Hospital, by using it as a terror command center.

The terrorists, some from Hamas and some from Islamic Jihad, admit that there were between 600 to 1,000 of their fighters utilizing Shifa as a center for managing fighting the IDF as well as hiding from IDF patrol sweeps for terrorists.

Islamic Jihad terrorist Nabil Regev Abd Ishtivi said, "The fighters are in every building, spread out in every area" of the sprawling hospital complex.

He admitted to how long he’s been there:

He also said that he had been at Shifa for three months.

This would mean that around a month or less after the IDF took over and left Shifa the first time in mid-November, it was already back in the hands of terrorists.

The article goes on to note that the various timings of the terrorists building its presence up in the hospital, the IDF clearing it and then the current operation there leave a lot of questions to be answered:

Initially, the IDF had said it had planned its second takeover operation against terrorists in Shifa several days before. Still, later IDF sources said that higher levels of the IDF were working on the operation as much as a month before.

This still leaves open the question of whether the IDF only learned of the terrorist re-takeover of Shifa in mid-February or knew earlier but decided to delay acting for months for unknown reasons.

Since mid-February, IDF sources said the operation was delayed to pinpoint the best possible simultaneous attack moment.

One of the captured soldiers said that the raid of the Shifa complex was hurting the hostage negotiations, which would make sense from their perspective. But it also shows how difficult the future of Gaza will be in terms of who controls the area as they hide and work in sensitive areas:

He also said that Islamic Jihad had used the childbirth unit as a mini-headquarters, while Hamas had used the administrative buildings and the specialists unit as a mini-headquarters.

According to the IDF, Gazan terrorists have no safe place, so they have chosen Shifa and other hospitals to hide in, in express violation of international law.

One comment after the article summed things up correctly:

“Hamas terrorists can become ‘civilians’ in five minutes. And back in the time it takes to grab an AK. The IDF is basically fighting every Palestinian male aged 12-80.”

Regardless, the IDF will continue to find all terrorists:

Despite these attempts, the IDF has said it will pursue terrorists in every location, including hospitals while trying as hard as possible to avoid harm to civilians and medical staff.

Israel Recalls Negotiators

As we see in a report from i24news.tv the fallout from the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) continues to reverberate in both the Hamas camp and the Israeli camp:

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Tuesday issued a statement after Hamas' rejection of the truce proposal, marking Israel's withdrawal from the negotiations in Qatar. "Hamas's position clearly proves that it is not interested in continuing negotiations for a deal, and is an unfortunate testimony to the damage of the [United Nations] Security Council's decision."

"Hamas once again rejected any American compromise proposal and repeated its extreme demands: an immediate end to the war, a complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip and the remaining in power so that it could repeat the massacre of October 7 again and again, as it had promised to do," read the statement.

"Israel will not submit to the delusional demands of Hamas, and will continue to act to achieve all the goals of the war: to release all the abductees, to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel."

Some hope is gained from knowing that not all of Israel’s contingent came home, but this positive sign is diminished by Hamas not moving off their demands:

Meanwhile, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters said negotiations are moving ahead and Israel’s Mossad officials remain in Doha for discussions.

Earlier on Monday night, Hamas said that it informed the negotiations mediators that it "sticks to its original position" in its demands for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, withdrawal of the Israeli troops from the Strip and return of displaced Palestinians and a “real” exchange of “prisoners."

According to a former Israeli intelligence officer, Israel has no leverage now:

Raphaël Jerusalmy, a former Israeli intelligence officer, told i24NEWS: "Hamas knows it is supported for the moment and has no interest in freeing hostages, which is why it is asking for the maximum price, namely the total withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip".

According to him, "the terrorist organization knows that it is supported for the moment, firstly by the UN resolutions in its favor, and also because it knows that there is water in the gas between Israel and the United States".

“We have zero leverage. The Americans are putting pressure on Qatar, Israel, and Egypt, but they cannot put any pressure on Hamas... So far, Hamas is still kicking, thinks it's still in a position to fight,”

"The only hope", he adds, "is that Hamas will release the sick hostages who are a burden to it, but even for that, Israel will have to pay a disproportionate price".

“We May Again Have To Fight For Right To Be Jewish”

The current milieu or environment of antisemitism was highlighted by the famous Jewish filmmaker, Steven Spielberg as we read in an article from The Times Of Israel:

Steven Spielberg warned on Monday that “the machinery of extremism is being used on college campuses,” and lamented those killed in Israel and Gaza, while being honored for his Holocaust remembrance work at the University of Southern California.

The renowned Jewish filmmaker spoke at a ceremony in which USC bestowed its prestigious University Medallion on the 56,000 Holocaust survivors who have provided testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation, which Spielberg founded three decades ago. Thirty of the survivors were present at the ceremony. The award’s text also says the school is “immensely grateful” to Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw.

In his speech, Spielberg lamented polling showing high rates of antisemitism on college campuses. He also condemned other forms of hatred, including anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh discrimination.

Spielberg would go to voice his alarm by quoting philosopher George Santayana for why he is speaking out against antisemitism:

“We see every day how the machinery of extremism is being used on college campuses,“ Spielberg said. Moments later, he said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. And I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history, to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish.”

He added, “The creation of the other, and the dehumanization of any group based on their differences, is the foundation of fascism.”

Spielberg brought up how critical it is to speak out against hate in any form and added freeing the hostages as well:

“It is crucial to the stopping of political violence caused by misinformation, conspiracy theories and ignorance,” Spielberg said of the Shoah Foundation’s efforts. “It is crucial because stopping the rise of antisemitism and hate of any kind is critical to the health of our democratic republic and the future of democracy all over the civilized world.”

Spielberg said that at a recent gathering of survivors, one woman “shared what I know so many of us are wishing: that those who are currently being held hostage in Gaza should be safe and have hope that they should return home.”

Fighting Antisemitism In Christianity

Spielberg, as a Jew himself is in a good position to shine the spotlight on the growing hatred of Jews, but as believers there is also a growing spirit of antisemitism in Christian circles. While I grew up believing that Israel is still God’s people and that we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem, there are others who don’t see it that way and accuse people like myself of being a “Christian Zionist.” Here is how an article from Foxnews.com explains this:

It's time for a new form of Christian Zionism based not on hypothetical End Times scenarios but firmly rooted in the best intellectual traditions of ecumenical Christianity.

Why now? As Iran's apocalyptic regime of mullahs strives for nuclear weapons, as the Middle East is engulfed in strife, and as Christians in the region are killed and expelled by ISIS among other enemies, democratic Israel remains an island of law and stability, where persons of all faiths are safe.

Yet an increasing number of elites among Evangelicals, traditionally Israel's strongest friends, are turning against Israel. These elites want a new non-controversial image for themselves disconnected from the old Religious Right.

Some in the new Evangelical Left claim the Gospel precludes taking sides, and that Christianity has no relation to modern Israel. They are wrong, we believe.

The author of the op-ed piece, Mark Tooley went on to highlight that Christian Zionism or CZ isn’t a bad thing, but actually a good thing in contrast to those who think the support of Israel is only a Bible prophecy fad. He and others met in Washington. DC and added this rebuttal:

Instead, our scholars argued that CZ is at the heart of the New Testament. Even anti-Zionists agree, mostly, that Zionism is part of the Old Testament. But Zionism is also presumed by New Testament authors, which many modern readers miss because they've been trained not to see it.

For example, Luke’s Gospel says that Jesus forecast a time when Jerusalem would no longer “be trampled underfoot [controlled] by the Gentiles”(Luke 21.24),which never happened until the establishment of Israel in 1948.

He went on to say that the backing of Israel doesn’t mean blind support:

We do NOT mean that Israel is a perfect polity or immune from critique. Or that it is necessarily the last Jewish polity we will see before the eschaton. Or that we know the particular timetable or political schema that will come before or in the eschaton.

But we do believe that this is a historic time for Israel and for us. For all the people of God. Support for this polity of Israel—this return of God’s people to the land—is eroding globally. It is surrounded by regimes bent on its destruction. Mainline Protestants have withdrawn their support. The Evangelical Left is now withdrawing support, using the same faulty arguments. It is a time for Christians, not just Jews, to make a case for the people and the land.

Dooley went on to give these arguments for God’s purposes for Israel and why we as Christians should push back on the notion of Jews not being used by God now:

We believe that this people of Israel, at this moment in history, in the land, in this politeia, is part of God’s loving purpose for the salvation of the world. Contrary to common critique, Christian Zionism is not a modern political movement, popularized by "Left Behind" fiction. It dates to the early Church Fathers and runs through sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Puritans and modern thinkers like Reinhold Niebuhr and Karl Barth.

Yet too few Christians and Americans today know the deeply biblical and ecumenical intellectual traditions affirming a modern Jewish Israel. We hope our new 21st-century Christian Zionism, rooted in the venerable past, will open an exciting new chapter in Christian friendship with Jews and with Israel.