GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 174

Fighting Against Amalek

Israel Delegation Going To US – Again

We read in an article from CBN.com that the cancelled Israeli delegation meeting in the US is back on again:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reversed his decision to cancel a top-level delegation to Washington.

The reversal means the U.S. and Israel will continue their face-off over Israel's planned military invasion to remove the last four Hamas battalions from the Gazan stronghold in Rafah.

The original meeting was stopped after the US failed to veto a United Nations resolution on Monday:

After the U.S. refused to veto Monday's U.N. Security Council Gaza resolution, Netanyahu canceled a planned visit to Washington of two war cabinet officials. It was a way to let Hamas know such resolutions wouldn't pressure Israel into ending the war or giving up on the fight for the Hamas-held hostages.

“There was a message first and foremost to Hamas: 'Don't bet on this pressure. It's not going to work," Netanyahu explained.

Now that the prime minister's message has been sent, he's okayed the delegation's visit, which has been rescheduled.

The political back and forth with Israel and the US is only one part of the complexity of an international war of words between supposed allies, tactics that made Hamas happy:

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told CBN News the refusal of the U.S. to veto that U.N. resolution aided Israel's enemies.

"Hamas was celebrating this," Friedman stated. "Ismail Haniya from Hamas traveled to Tehran to do a victory lap, you know, with the mullahs (Iran's top leadership) about this. I mean, this was considered a victory for Hamas. Now, any U.N. resolution that's a victory for Hamas is obviously a move in the absolute wrong direction. The idea that you could pass a resolution and not condemn Hamas as part of it is just unthinkable.”

They Can Do Both

From the same CBN.com article we see that Netanyahu is making it clear that they are going to defeat Hamas in Rafah and protect civilians all at the same time:

Meeting with U.S. lawmakers in Israel, Netanyahu said his nation is just a few weeks away from finishing off Hamas as a fighting force. Yet, leaders of most nations are trying to stop Israel from doing it if it involves an invasion of the city of Rafah.

“Now we are told you can't do this, if you go into Rafah you're going to have a humanitarian catastrophe," Netanyahu told the visitors from Congress.

He insists that's simply not true, that the million Gazan refugees can avoid the battle by moving back to northern Gaza.

"Yes, they have a place to go," the prime minister asserted. "Second, you know, we provide them food. The problem was not the entry of (aid) trucks. The problem was the stealing of trucks, both by looting by Hamas, and looting by others, and so on.”

And one US lawmaker is supporting Israel publicly:

In Jerusalem, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) believes the U.S. should support the Jewish nation going into Rafah to destroy Hamas' last four battalions because Israel has to do it.

“October 7th was like Pearl Harbor and 9/11 on steroids for the Israeli people," Graham declared, "and the response to October 7th is total victory. The destruction of all military capability, battalion-wise, of Hamas.”

Graham also explained why Israelis are so troubled by the U.N. resolution that demands a ceasefire in Gaza: because it de-links that ceasefire demand from the demand for Hamas to free the hostages.

“I understand the Israeli position. You have to be clear there will never be a ceasefire unless the hostages are released," Graham said.

As we continue to see once strong support for Israel wane as the political season in the US ramps up, it appears that politics is ruling the hearts and minds of people who love power more than loyalty. In the end, I still believe that Israel will have to finish the war on their own. But they won’t be helpless as I also know that God will have their backs and that will make all the difference in the world.

Netanyahu Knows The Old Testament

“Never forget what the Amalekites did to you as you came from Egypt. 18 They attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they struck down those who were straggling behind. They had no fear of God.” (Deut 25:17-18, NLT)

Back in January of this year Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used this verse as he described the fight Israel is in against Hamas. And it harkens to what many see as a constant fight with at least the spirit of Amalek that continues to this day. In an article from One For Israel the current fight with Hamas is yet another conflict with the spirit of Amalek:

In Hebrew the word Hamas (חמס) means violence. It could not be more fitting. To date some 1400 Israelis have been slaughtered in cold blood, 2500 wounded, and it’s estimated that some 250 have been captured and taken back to Gaza as hostages. An 85 year old grandmother was paraded through the streets of Gaza as a trophy. They have taken young men and women, little children and even babies, and the elderly and frail. Just like the Amalekites did as ancient Israel escaped from Egypt. They picked on the weaker ones trailing behind, the children, the infirm, and the elderly… and God did not forget it. We see that same spiritual hatred of Israel, the Amalek spirit, raising its ugly head once again in our days. We are not fighting against flesh and blood.

As we recall, the attacks on October 7th targets a music festival where young people were there to celebrate peace. They were instead treated this way:

Young people at a music festival for peace were caught and killed in their hundreds, many more taken off screaming into Gaza. Women were violently yanked about by their hair, tied up and terrified. Little children shot and abused, babies were found beheaded. The broken bodies of naked women displayed and spat upon, dead soldiers celebrated over with jubilance…

This fight against what Hamas did then is not new:

Jeremiah saw similar things happening to Israel also in his day. It’s not the first time that the people of Israel have been brutalized on such a scale. Nor, I’m sorry to say, will it be the last. This ancient hatred goes way back. It’s satanic. The murderous Amalek spirit rises again and again to destroy Israel in the Bible, and continues throughout history until this day. Indeed, it is prophesied that it will only come to an end in the last days, when Balaam speaks God’s words about the end times:

Then he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said, “Amalek was the first among the nations, but its end is utter destruction.” (Numbers 24:20)

The ancient Israelites fought the Amalekites and won at Rephidim (Exodus 17), but the Amalekites kept coming back and were continually waging war against Israel during the times of the Judges. They rose up again to terrorize in the times of Saul and of David, at one point raiding David’s camp at Ziklag (see Numbers 30-3-6) —much like Hamas—taking wives, children and plunder. But through God’s help all was recovered. We pray now that just like the episode of Ziklag, that we will see the safe return of our loved ones.

Saul Didn’t Obey

He said, “They have raised their fist against the Lord’s throne, so now the Lord will be at war with Amalek generation after generation.” (Ex 17:16, NLT)

King Saul was supposed to totally destroy the Amalekites and instead decided to spare the life of their king thus keeping the Amalekites alive through him. And it was Haman in the book of Esther, himself a descendant of that king who plotted to kill all the Jews. We can’t forget the Holocaust where another man wanted to also kill all the Jews and would have succeeded had not God intervened. And now that same antisemitic spirit inspires the terrorists in the Middle East to eliminate Israel. Netanyahu was chided by the South Africans when they made their case against Israel at the Hague and used his words to accuse him of wanting to commit an act of genocide. However, the Prime Minister was just alluding to the ages long fight for Israel to survive yet another attempt to exterminate them. The good news is that in this instance, just like the previous ones, the Jews will prevail. And there is a spiritual application for us as well as we fight an ages battle with sin. From generation to generation men and women had to fight against the temptation to sin or to live for God. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we also need to pray for the peace that only comes when we resist the devil. Just as Jesus was ministered to by angels only when he told Satan no three times, we need to also tell the devil no. And unlike King Saul, we need to completely kill those sins lest they come against again, and again. Israel will win this war and my prayer is that we will our war against sin as well.