GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 367

One Year Later - Never Again

It’s Hard To Believe

Only one year ago today Israel was brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists. To this day, the full extent of the barbarism done to the innocent people that day hasn’t been seen by the public unless they make a concerted effort to watch it. Those who have tell us that they had a hard time seeing the evidence and believing that anyone could be that evil. And when you consider what happened it is no wonder that Israel made the decision that they would never live with terrorists all around them again. Their resolve is heard in the statement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave on the anniversary of this dark day in Israel’s history in an article from The Times Of Israel:

October 7 was a day of indescribable sorrow for the country, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a video statement at the state memorial ceremony, but “we were not defeated.”

He noted that Israel always rises to the occasion:

“And as has happened time and again in Israel’s history, it is precisely in moments of difficulty that great inner strength emerges.”

The PM then detailed how they are fighting the evil manifested on October 7th:

“We stood together for the defense of our country, for the defense of our homeland,” says Netanyahu in the pre-recorded message. “We have mobilized enormous spiritual power. We have defined the goals of the war and we are achieving them: toppling the rule of Hamas; bringing all our hostages home, both alive and dead, is a sacred mission that we will not let go of until we achieve it; thwarting any future threat from Gaza to Israel; and returning the residents of the south and the north safely to their homes.”

He continued using the theme of fighting:

Israel fights, says Netanyahu, “to bring light to the world, a people who strive to spread good and eradicate evil.”

“As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country — we will continue to fight. As long as there are kidnapped in Gaza — we will continue to fight. We will not give up any of them. I will not give up. As long as our citizens do not return to their homes safely — we will continue to fight.”

The fight he says is timeless and universal:

When Israel wins, says Netanyahu, “not only for our sake, but for the sake of future generations and for the sake of all humanity — we will rebuild the revived regions on a much larger scale. Holding onto the root will regrow the tree of life.”

“October 7 will symbolize for generations the price of our revival, and it will express for generations the magnitude of our determination and the strength of our spirit,” continues Netanyahu.

Netanyahu closed with hope:

“Together we will continue to fight, and together — with God’s grace — we will win.”

Terrorists Also Observed October 7th

Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist proxies of Iran celebrated October 7th by attacking Israel as we see in various reports starting with one detailing Hamas’ rockets targeting central Israel and detailed by the Jerusalem News Syndicate:

A Hamas rocket barrage on central Israel injured two people in Kfar Chabad, southeast of Tel Aviv, on Monday, the first anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

While significant, casualties were small:

Eli Bin, director of the Magen David Adom emergency service, reported that two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel.

MDA tweeted that “in the Sdot Dan region, MDA EMTs and Paramedics are treating 2 female casualties in mild condition with shrapnel injuries and evacuating them to hospital,” adding that other locations were being searched.

The injuries were from missiles that were intercepted:

The Israel Defense Forces said that five rockets were fired from the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza, with several impacts detected. Police said that fragments from an interception struck an open area in Holon, south of Tel Aviv.

Hamas was the culprit:

The IDF initially said that “sirens sounded in central Israel due to projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip.”

The Houthi rebels in Yemen also fired a missile that the Israel Airforce took down as seen in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

The IAF intercepted a surface-surface missile from Yemen, which activated 193 rocket sirens across the country, including the areas of Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion Airport, on Monday afternoon.

As noted before, the missile was taken down before it could cause any harm:

Afterward, the IDF made the following statement: "Following the sirens that sounded in a number of areas in central Israel, the surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen was successfully intercepted by the IAF.

Those who heard the sirens knew exactly what to do:

Video footage from N12 depicts Israelis in Tel Aviv taking cover with their hands over their head as the sirens go off. The sirens activated during preparations for the national ceremony for October 7.

"Lie on the ground, put your hands on your head," a man can be heard yelling in the video as they lay on the exposed ground.

Hezbollah got in the action as well as we read in an article from yahoo.com:

Hezbollah rockets wounded at least 10 in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, as Israel hammered Beirut with overnight airstrikes on the eve of Oct. 7, one year after the Hamas attack that triggered an escalating crisis in the Middle East.

Hezbollah fired off a missile salvo toward a military base south of the city on Israel's western coast, followed by a second one that it said targeted an area north of the city.

As in the other attacks, the IDF handled them as well:

The Israeli military said it intercepted five rockets fired from Lebanon and was reviewing the incident. It also downed some of the 15 projectiles it said were fired toward Tiberias, around 40 miles east of Haifa near the Golan Heights.

All in all, the terrorists tried to make some noise mostly to let the world know they are still a threat and also to seem like they are a force. The reality is that Hamas is a shell of what they were a year ago when they shot 5,000 rockets and today only shot 14 and Hezbollah has had almost 85% of their rocket launching ability disabled in the last 2 weeks as well as the vast amount of their leaders killed.

I Have To Be Honest

A year ago today I was encouraged to do a podcast about the events happening in Israel. I decided to do it an hour later I started this daily podcast thinking it wouldn’t last longer than a month. At the time I heard that Israel considered this their 9/11 and that they were going to war with Hamas. I couldn’t even pronounce all the names and even now I struggle with correctly saying all the names of the people and the cities. But one thing I eventually figured out was the phrase “never again.” And over the next 12 months I know now that this time they mean it. Sadly, it took the horrendous events of October 7th for all of Israel to get serious about the threat of terrorists all around them and to make sure that it never happened again. While there are some who don’t see it the way I do, I am seeing Bible prophecies being set up for fulfillment that never meant sense and now, they do. Why would Israel need to destroy modern day Damascus? Why would Israel need to devastate the southern Lebanese cities of Tyre and Sidon? And why would Israel weakening Iran set up the war of Gog and Magog? The destruction of Elam detailed in Jeremiah 49 also makes total sense since that nation is now all a part of modern day Iran and just happens to be where Iran’s nuclear sites reside. Just 30 years ago, the reasons for these prophecies were hidden. But not now. We are living in Biblical times and it is not just fascinating but amazing.