GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 195

God’s Got Israel’s Back

Green Light Or No Green Light

It depends on who you listen to for whether a deal was made on the Iran counter strike plans with the United States. One source says a deal is in place and another says no deal was made. Let’s read what is being reported from The Jerusalem Post:

The US has approved a potential Israeli Rafah operation in exchange for the Jewish state not conducting counterstrikes on Iran, according to a Thursday report from the Qatari newspaper The New Arab.

A senior official told The New Arab that "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to obtain American approval for a military operation in Rafah, in exchange for [Israel] refraining from carrying out a wide military operation against Iran in response to its recent attack."

He claimed that "discourse of an Israeli response to Iran contradicts the desires of the American administration, and is not realistic, given the Israeli claims that the United States played the major role in repelling the Iranian attack and preventing its success."

In another report, this one from The Times Of Israel we see another angle on the Iran counter strike:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved plans that had been prepared for retaliation against Iran’s weekend barrage after speaking with US President Joe Biden immediately following the attack, Israeli television reported Wednesday.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the cabinet had already approved a series of possible responses depending on the scope of the Iranian attack, which were slated to be carried out immediately following the Iranian fusillade early Sunday.

“The response won’t be what was planned any longer; diplomatic sensitivities won out,” a senior source was quoted telling the broadcaster. “There will be a response, but it seems it will be different from what was planned.”

Putting the two accounts together and we see what appears to be an agreement to wait on attacking Iran with the green light to go into Rafah. However, another article, this time from i24news.com seems to say that no deal was made:

Despite earlier Arab media reports that United States President Joe Biden's administration gave a green light to Israel's plan of the operation in Rafah in exchange of a limited response to Iran, a White House spokesperson has told i24NEWS that there is no truth the U.S. gave Israel (the) green light.

The U.S. earlier on Wednesday announced new sanctions against Iran in an evident gesture seeking to strop the potential escalation in the Middle East after Israel's retaliation believed to take place after the Passover.

It’s hard to know which source has this right, but Prime Minister Netanyahu said that they and they alone will decide how to best provide security for Israel, so maybe it doesn’t matter. Israel also said they want to maintain the element of surprise, too.

Iran May Review It’s Nuclear “Doctrine”

If anyone still believes them or not, Iran says it may have to change its stance on only using nuclear weapons for only peaceful purposes as we see in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

Iran could review its "nuclear doctrine" following Israeli threats, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Thursday, raising concerns about Tehran's nuclear program, which it has always said was strictly for peaceful purposes.

Israel has said it will retaliate against Iran's April 13 missile and drone attack, which Tehran says was carried out in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus earlier this month.

"The threats of the Zionist regime (Israel) against Iran's nuclear facilities make it possible to review our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous considerations," Ahmad Haghtalab, the Guards commander in charge of nuclear security, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

They have previously said they could make weapons at some point in time:

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the last say on Tehran's nuclear program, which the West suspects has military purposes.

In 2021, Iran's then-intelligence minister said Western pressure could push Tehran to seek nuclear weapons, the development of which Khamenei banned in a fatwa, or religious decree, in the early 2000s.

"Building and stockpiling nuclear bombs is wrong, and using it is haram (religiously forbidden) ... Although we have nuclear technology, Iran has firmly avoided it," Khamenei reiterated in 2019.

As expected, they will blame Israel for changing their stance:

"If the Zionist regime wants to take action against our nuclear centers and facilities, we will surely and categorically reciprocate with advanced missiles against their own nuclear sites," Haghtalab said.

They’ve always wanted nuclear weapons and everyone knows it:

Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, said in February that Iran continued to enrich uranium at rates up to 60% purity, which is far beyond the needs for commercial nuclear use.

God Will Protect Israel Regardless

All this talk of Israel attacking Iran and them shooting back misses a huge factor as we read in an article from foxnews.com:

Days after hundreds of missiles and drones were launched at Israel, members of the Jewish community are speaking out, saying Iranian leaders are cowards who hide behind proxies, adding that "almighty God" will protect those who live in the Holy Land.

Iran’s brazen and unprecedented attack on Israel late Saturday involved drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Only seven ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing minor damage to an air base. Israeli and U.S. forces shot down the rest with help from British, French and Jordanian forces.

A rabbi spoke up on why Iran’s attacks failed:

Aish CEO Rabbi Steven Burg spoke with Fox News Digital about Iran’s attack.

"Iran attacked. Iran has been attacking the Western world and Israel for so long, from so many places," the former New York native said. "They just use proxies, because frankly, they’re cowards. And I think for them to kind of come out from behind the rock and throw all those missiles at Israel, I think people were a little surprised…but I think it’s a paper tiger. I think what turned out is they don’t quite have the ability that everyone thought they had."

The rabbi said that Israel could live in fear, but they shouldn’t:

The situation created a lot of nervousness among its citizens, as well as a lot of tension.

But what the attack also did was bring the country together, he said, creating a sense of need to get the people who were kidnapped back to Israel.

"I think at this point, there’s such resiliency to understand that this is good versus evil," Burg said. "I think there’s an understanding that this is the right fight."

There is also an understanding that Israel will not be surprised again, he said, and the people of Israel know how to hit back.

"This is the Holy Land. There is a certain sense and a certain deep, deep belief in God, that God is there to protect us and help us on our journey," Burg added. "We’ve been picked on and bullied. It’s just our story."

Burg points out that Israel has a full history or surviving:

"We have an understanding that as long as we're moral, just ethical, as long as we move forward in the right way, then we're going to thrive. And all those nations throughout the years that, you know, tortured us and beat us up, they're all gone. And yet we're still here in our homeland that we've been in for 3500 years," he added. "So, I think that there's a really uplifting of spirit and soul, with this holiday and, I think if anything, we're just going to come out stronger."

Ultimately, the message Burg sent was that countries can continue to attack Jews, no matter where they are, God will protect them.

I think those of us who support Israel can add an amen to that.